Tulips of Love
by Rule1thedoctorlies
Summary: John and Sherlock meet in High School and things don't always go as planned.
1. Chapter 1

"John! It's time to get up for school!" Mrs. Watson called from downstairs.

John rolled over in bed and groaned. Last night his dad had come home drunk and John had gotten the worst of it. Not that that was a surprise to john or anything; he always received the worst of his fathers "drinking spells" as John liked to call them. He rolled out of bed and landed on the floor with a thud. His room was neat and tidy and there wasn't a thing out of place. It had to be, though, because the rest of the house was a nightmare. Not all the time though… sometimes his mother tidied it up. The order never seemed to last long; however. Once his father came home, his house would return to a hell hole.

John took a shower and got dressed. He brushed and flossed his perfect teeth and then went downstairs to say 'goodbye' to his mum and sister.

"Bye, mummy!" he said with a smile which was held for two reasons. The first was because he was always happy to see his mother, but the second was because his father had already left and he didn't have to deal with him.

"Oh.." His mother blinked. "Bye… aren't you going to eat something with me and your sister before you go?"

John shook his head and then kissed her on the cheek. "Not today, mum. I'm late for school and Mr. Picklewickle hates it when we are late." He snickered to himself.

John's mother looked at him like he had lost his marbles. "Picklewickle…?"

"Yes! Now, if you'll excuse me, I am late!" he smiled again and grabbed an orange from the counter, then dashed out the door.

~O~

John hated school. He really did. He struggled a lot and didn't know how to do the majority of things. His family didn't have a lot of money so they couldn't pay for a tutor either.

The bell rang and he made his way to his last class of the day… Chemistry. This was John's least favourite class. He found it pointless and boring, although, this was mainly because he didn't understand it. John sat with his rugby friends in the back of the class like he always did. He was in his own little world when suddenly one of them nudged John in the side. "What the hell." He whispered. "What was that for?"

Brian smirked. "Watch this, mate." He finished folding a paper aeroplane that he had been working on for half of the class period and threw it. It flew through the air until it hit the brainiac of the class – Sherlock Holmes - right in the head. "Bingo!" Brian snickered and gave Zack a high five.

John rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing previously. Brian and John were the captains of the rugby team, but sometimes John just wanted to punch him. Brian was tall -very tall, lean, extremely fit, and had short, blonde hair on top of his head. Brian was considered attractive, but John was a guy so he couldn't know something like that.

John looked up at the assaulted Sherlock just as he groaned and crumbled up the paper. Sure, Sherlock was a little weird, but that didn't give Brain, Zack and the rest of the rugby players the right to tease him. He sighed and left it alone when Brian nudged him again. "Oh my hell, will you stop that! What?"

Brian snickered. "Truth or Dare?"

"Wha- Really? We are going to do this now? No. I'm trying to learn!" This was a complete lie. John wasn't even paying attention.

"John, no you aren't… Come on! It will be fun. Now, Truth or Dare?"

"Ugh! Fine!" The faster John participated, the faster they would leave him alone. "Dare."

"I dare you to go sit with the little freak." Brian and Zack laughed simultaneously because they thought this happened to be the funniest thing in the universe.

"No.. I'm not—" John smirked to himself. That wasn't a bad idea actually. If John was next to Sherlock, John's friends couldn't bug him. "Alright, fine."

Zack and Brian nudged each other and laughed as John rolled his eyes and grabbed his books. When the teacher wasn't looking, John dashed up to the empty seat next to Sherlock and sat down. He didn't say anything he just resumed his drawing. Hopefully, if he was lucky, Sherlock would leave him alone.

Naturally, Sherlock did the opposite. Sherlock looked over at John, then to the front of the class, then back at John. He noticed that John was drawing a picture of a dragon and it was actually really good… not that he would admit that to a rugby player. "You shouldn't be drawing, you know... You should be paying attention to the lesson."

"I'll do whatever the hell I want." John snapped, albeit a little harsher than he meant it to be. "This worksheet is shit anyway. It's pointless and dumb."

"Fascinating use of words." Sherlock said dryly. "I assume you are drawing all over your homework because maybe, perhaps, you don't get it?"

John froze, but then returned to his drawing. "No! I get how to do it just fine!"

"Ah, but you don't." Sherlock studied John's actions and then before he could stop himself, he said something that was shocking coming out of his mouth. "I could help you if you want."

"No. I don't need your help because I get it just fine!" He snapped, getting defensive. "Now leave me alone!"

Sherlock did another thing that surprised himself. He listened to John and proceeded to leave him alone… Sherlock never did – does – that; it was entirely out of character. Sherlock classified it as a random act of kindness and then returned to his worksheet.

John felt stupid as he continued to draw his dragon, especially after he just told Sherlock that he knew how to do it. He flipped his paper over to the front and stared at question one. The question just seemed to blend together and make no sense at all. After staring blankly at his paper for an interminable amount of time, he looked at Sherlock. Then to his paper. Then back to Sherlock again where he was about to open his mouth to speak, but then his stubbornness reared its head and he resolutely did not turn to Sherlock for help. He transfixed his stare right back to the bastard of a conundrum that was his worksheet.

Sherlock smirked to himself. John was adorable… adorable in ways you can find people adorable without getting sentimental, of course. He looked at John. "Problem?"

John groaned and banged his head down on the desk. "Yes…" he woefully moaned into the hard surface.

Sherlock smiled and took John's paper from him. For the rest of the class period he helped John understand how to go through the motions of working through the problems. As the class period neared the end, the worksheet was almost complete. John was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed learning the material with Sherlock's help and methods; he would even venture to say that he had fun working on it. When the bell rang, John stood up getting ready to leave just as Sherlock put his pen away and stacked his books and papers into a tidied pile to be picked up.

"Thanks." John muttered as he shoved his worksheet into his bag.

"Nonsense. It was no problem at all." Sherlock smiled. He opened his mouth to say something as he grabbed up his things, but was stopped as Brian and Zack came up and knocked into him hard, causing his books and worksheets to be thrown all over the floor.

"Watch it, SHERLICK!" Brian laughed.

Sherlock huffed as he rolled his eyes. He was about to open his mouth to say something about how being sacked too many times on the rugby field can cause brain damage just as John cut him off. "Really, Brian? What are you? Five? Help Sherlock pick up his stuff and then go. I'm tired of you picking on people just because they're different."

Brian scoffed. "I'm not helping him. He's a freak." Brian grumbled as he kicked some of the books and papers across the room as he made his way towards the door. "Yeah, nice try, mate, but I'm gonna head home now." He nudged on Zack and together the two of them and the rest of the team walked out of the room.

John sighed and shook his head. He bent down and started helping Sherlock pick up his things. "You should ignore them. They're just a couple of idiotic twats who think they are better than everyone... Well they're not!"

Ignoring the voice inside his head that wanted to remind John that John himself was one of them, Sherlock instead felt something inside of him jump. Then for the third time that day, he surprised himself. "Do you want to walk home together…?"

John jolted at the idea, then shook it off and nodded. "Yeah, alright." He smiled. He was always so lonely on the walk home.

Sherlock grabbed the last of his pencils that had fallen and together they stood up then walked out of the school and onto the pavement. Sherlock didn't really know how to start conversation so he kind of awkwardly started "So… where do you live?"

John froze, but then quickly recovered. "Oh... just, you know, over there…" He pointed straight in front of them. "You'll be home before me though."

Sherlock blinked. "You know where I live?…."

"No! No... No, I don't.. I'm just saying that you probably live closer to the school than I do, that's all."

Sherlock nodded and they kept walking. Soon, they were nearing Sherlock's house, but Sherlock didn't stop. "See that house there?" Sherlock pointed.

John looked to where the long and slender hand gestured to and he nodded. "Yeah it's huge. What about it?"

"It's my house."

"Oh… well then I guess this is goodbye. See you on Monday?" John said, a little sad that their time together was over.

"Nonsense. Isn't the point of walking home together… walking home together? It would be rude of me if I let you walk the rest of the way by yourself."

John started to panic. "No, Sherlock you really don't have to do that… and when I say 'really' I mean you _really_ don't have to do that."

"No…" Sherlock said slowly. "But I want to…"

John took a deep breath. "Look Sherlock I know you may want to, but you can't… so, I will see you in Chemistry on Monday, alright?" He started to walk away, quickly, just as Sherlock ran up to catch up to him.

"You aren't getting away from me that easily… what are you hiding?" He cocked his head a little to the side and gave John a look that immediately reminded John of a confused cat. "If it's because you live in a smaller house than me, well don't be embarrassed... a lot of people live in small houses."

"How reassuring." John said, deadpanned. "No... It's not that, it's…" John took a deep breath "you wouldn't be able to get back to your house."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow. "Of course I would… it's called legs. Unless you planned on turning me into an invalid upon the arrival of your home, I would just take the route back to my house, John."

"No! It will be too late and I wouldn't let you walk home alone in the dark!" John snapped before he could stop himself.

Sherlock stepped closer to John. "John… what do you mean…?"

"I mean that I live two hours away on foot! Neither my mother nor my father will drive me and I'm too far away for any school busses… by the time we got to my house, it would be late. Then, once you dropped me off, you would be left to walk all by yourself for another two hours – in the dark, mind you – to once again reach your home!" John groaned.

"Then we had better get started," Sherlock smirked.

"What… I told you, you aren't coming!"

"On the contrary. I am coming and I will walk home. I usually go for walks late at night anyway. It really isn't a big deal, John."

John sighed dramatically, seeing this for the losing battle that it was. "Fine! But if you die by some crazy mugger, I'll murder you!"

"How can you murder me if I'm already dead?" Sherlock replied smoothly.

"Tosser." John smirked and bumped into him with his side.

"Always." Sherlock shot back with a grin. He had never had a friend before and John made him feel happy. They walked in comfortable silence for a long while before John spoke up.

"So Sherlock, tell me… what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Sherlock looked to John as he replied. "I want to be a consulting detective."

John nodded as he continued to walk, pondering on what the fuck a consulting detective could possibly be. He then shook his head, finally giving up and just decided to ask. "What is that…?"

"It's a job that I'm going to invent," Sherlock stuck his chest out.

"Of course you are…" John replied with a hint of sarcasm. "And what does being a 'consulting detective' consist of?"

"When the police are out of their depths, they consult me and I solve their problems… because let's be honest, the police don't have any idea what they are doing one hundred percent of the time."

John giggled. "Yeah, only there is one problem with your plan."

Sherlock was confused. "And what is that?"

"The police don't consult amateurs."

Sherlock glared at John. "You don't want me coming to your house for two reasons. The first being that you are actually worried about my safety and don't want me walking home in the dark. The second is that your house is small and you are embarrassed by it. Perhaps because of the neighborhood, but more likely the fact that it's a mess inside. You keep your room very clean though... Spotless in fact. It makes you feel better about the whole situation in general. Your father is a drunk and is abusive and your mother is rarely around. When she is, you are happy to see her, but you can't help but feel a little angry that she does nothing about your father and his drinking. You have a brother at home named Harry who you are the closest with, but you two aren't close. You feel alone in this world and you're afraid to tell your father that you—" He stopped himself. He was surprised for the fourth time that day. He never stops himself! But there was something about John that he didn't want to risk losing… John made him happy and that was something he hadn't experienced in a long time.

"That I what…?" John blinked. 'That was brilliantly fantastic! How did he know all of those things? Why did he stop…?' John thought in a daze. Sure it was a little embarrassing that Sherlock knew all of those things, but that was the least of his worries. Especially when even knowing these things, Sherlock didn't seem bothered by it. Or jeering.

"Nothing… it doesn't matter… it was a shot in the dark, really... I don't even know if it was true... best not to say it…." He blabbered. 'Great now I'm blabbering,' He thought bitterly to himself. John was capable of doing strange things to him and he wasn't sure he liked it. He wasn't sure he didn't like it, either.

"Sherlock… That was amazing! I don't care if it is a 'shot in the dark' as you so wonderfully put it… I want to know if you got it right." John said as he ran a little ahead of Sherlock and stopped in front of him before walking backwards.

"Uhh… I'd rather not… I do not wish to offend you in any way." He said hesitantly.

John frowned, but then smiled again. "And what if I promise that I won't be offended?"

"You will be… I can almost guarantee it…" He had to make his walking slower because John wasn't a very fast walker.. Especially when he was walking backwards.

"Sherlock. Please just tell me." John gave him the puppy dog eyes and Sherlock thought he looked adorable, once again.

"Fine… but remember this is a shot in the dark and I really don't want you to be mad. And I don't want to jeopardise our friendship because I seem to have grown atta—"

"Sherlock." John giggled "it won't, I promise. Just what is it?"

Sherlock took a deep breath. "You don't want to tell your father that you might be gay…"

John blinked and stopped walking. He turned his body so it was walking next to Sherlock's once again and didn't say anything for a long while. His mind was spinning and he felt a little sick. He wasn't mad at Sherlock at all God no, but he hadn't told anyone that and it felt all the more real to have it be out in the open.

Sherlock was feeling awful. He didn't want to tell John, but he did and now John hated him. He wanted to say something, but decided against it. It wouldn't be a good thing. What could he even say?

"How did you know…" John asked softly after what felt like ages to Sherlock.

"You umm... you were checking out a group of guys as we left the school… like I said it was just a guess."

"It may have been just a guess, but my hell you were right," John looked over at Sherlock and grinned. "I'm just… confused right now… but what about you?"

"What about me?" Sherlock asked, confused that John wasn't angry about the whole ordeal.

"What do you prefer?" John rolled his eyes, but was smiling at Sherlock.

"Oh.. Umm neither... I find the whole relationship process to be tedious and tiresome… I'm sorry, but why aren't you mad?"

"Because what you said was true… it also happened to be extraordinary.. Completely and utterly extraordinary…"

Sherlock was taken aback by this. "That's not what people normally say…"

"And what do people normally say?" John grinned.

"Piss off," Sherlock said smugly. They both fell into a fit of laughter and John leaned against Sherlock for support. Sherlock liked it when John touched him. He also liked John's smile, his laugh, the way he talked. His voice, his beautiful dark blue eyes, and his perfect teeth. Sherlock liked everything about John and he caught himself thinking that he wanted to be the cause of his smile and his laugh as much as he possibly could.

John finally calmed down and started walking normally again. He actually missed leaning up against Sherlock, but Sherlock had made it clear that he wasn't into anyone. "Is there a reason for that..?" He asked out loud.

"I suppose people don't like to be confronted with their problems…" He shrugged.

"No.. No, sorry. Not that... is there a reason you don't like anybody?"

"Oh... actually yes," He surprised himself again at the fact that he actually admitted to it. He should just get used to the fact that John was going to keep surprising him. "Caring isn't an advantage."

John frowned and looked at him. "That's not true… Why would you say that? Did something happen, Sherlock…"

He almost told John to forget about it, but he didn't because it was the least he could do for practically outing John. He also got himself into this mess and it would be a dick move to back out now… and he trusted John. "When I was six I liked this girl named Vanessa… I would watch her a lot, sounds creepy now that I say it, but I was young and awkward."

"Still are," John smirked

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Do you want to hear my story or not?"

"Right... sorry. Please continue!"

"As I said I used to watch her a lot. One day I decided to go talk to her and she seemed nice enough so I came out with my confession and told her how I felt… she laughed at me and said that no one would ever like a freak like me… I went home and cried and told myself that I didn't need anyone. I could live on my own forever. I'm fine how it is. There's no need to feel bad or pity me."

John frowned. "I'm sorry.. And no, that is not pity. I am genuinely sorry.. No one deserves that... Not ever, but I also think that you shouldn't not like anyone because of one bad experience you had when you were six…."

Sherlock scoffed "if you are suggesting I date you, while I am flattered by the idea, I will have to de—"

John cut him off hastily. "No.. No... I'm just saying its fine.. It's all fine…" He then smirked and turned to Sherlock. "You got one thing wrong though."

Sherlock blinked. "Did I? What did I get wrong?"

"Harry is short for Harriet. She's my sister not my brother."

"Sister! There's always something!" he groaned and then nodded. They continued walking for a while, it was already getting dark and Sherlock really didn't want to walk home, but he was the one that insisted he came along.

"Sherlock... I have an idea… and you can say no If you want…. But what do you say about staying at my house tonight? I just really don't want you to walk home.."

Sherlock felt his heart jerk and then felt stupid because he didn't know why his heart was jerking. "Alright.. Is that ok with your parents?"

"Should be fine, yeah… and oh, would you look at that... We're home. Yay." he said sarcastically.

~O~

John and Sherlock were able to sneak past Mrs. Watson without her noticing and his father wasn't home, thankfully. John sat on the edge of his bed while Sherlock looked around John's room. "And that's my trophy I got for winning best player of the year in rugby… I didn't think I deserved it, but hey, if they wanna give me a prize I'll be more than happy to take it," He smiled and watched as Sherlock moved about.

Sherlock was intrigued at everything he was looking at. John had so many personal and sentimental items it was rather cute. He mentally kicked himself for calling John cute. He picked up a small stuffed squirrel and turned it over in his hands.

"His name is squirrely… he was my childhood pet and I never really did get over him. He comforts me sometimes. Especially when things are hard." John shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

Sherlock held the squirrel and then walked over to John. He went to the edge of the bed and sat next to him. "I feel like…" Sherlock furrowed his brow because he didn't really know how he felt. He just wanted to be close to John! "I feel like I want to touch you…"

John choked on air a tad. "We've only just met! I mean you are attractive, I'll give you that, but—"

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Not like that! Like… like… ugh! I don't know how to describe it!"

John looked at him for a minute and then slowly wrapped his arms around Sherlock. "How's that?" He asked softly.

Sherlock hummed and remained with his arms still on each side of him. He wanted more so he slowly brought his arms up and wrapped them around John. "Good."

They stayed like that for a long time before finally John yawned. It was pretty late and he was tired. He pulled away slowly and looked at Sherlock. "There. Now I'm going to go sleep you can take the bed… I'll grab the floor."

Sherlock blinked. "No… I'll get the floor... this is your house. It would make sense for you to sleep in your own bed."

"Yes, but see, you are the guest. So therefore, you get the bed. I'm not going to argue, Sherlock." John started making a little pallet on the floor by using blankets.

"John, no! You are being ridiculous! I'm sleeping on the floor no matter what! So you sleep on the floor with me or you get the bed!"

John groaned. "Sherlock! I am used to sleeping on hard surfaces! Just please drop it and take the bed!"

Sherlock stopped abruptly. "What do you mean…?"

John mentally kicked himself and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. "It's umm… its nothing… I just meant that me and Harry used to have sleepovers on the floor together all the time... I'm used to it." John lied. This was not the actual case, but he didn't want to tell Sherlock the real reason.

"You're lying. Tell me the real reason, John." He said firmly.

John flinched a little. "No, Sherlock really it's the truth… just please take the bed."

Sherlock shook his head. "I will take the bed if you tell me why you are used to hard surfaces."

John sighed, defeated. "My father usually throws me in the backyard and locks me out of the house at night… I'm forced to sleep on the porch in the cold. Now please just take the fucking bed."

Sherlock's face fell and his jaw set. He was angry that someone would do that to John. His John. "No. You take the bed."

"Sherlock you promised!" John groaned. He was tired and he just wanted to sleep.

"I never actually promised…"

"Well I'm not letting you sleep on the floor, Sherlock."

Sherlock smirked. "Well I guess that only leaves one option doesn't it? We will both take the bed."

"Sherlock! We can't both take the bed." He choked out.

"And why not? I have made it perfectly clear where I stand and you are still confused. Anyway, it's just sleeping, John."

John's brain started to think of a million reasons why they couldn't. He thought of how nice it would be to fall asleep in Sherlock's arms, but then thought about what would happen if his father were to catch him. His bed was far too small and in order for them to both stay on it they would have to squish together… normal teenage boys didn't do that! But then again there was a high chance John was gay and Sherlock wasn't normal at all so did it really matter…? "Ugh! Fine! Get in the stupid bed!" he threw the blankets across the room and walked over to the bed before climbing in. He watched as Sherlock climbed in as well and snuggled against John's chest.

"Goodnight, John," Sherlock whispered sweetly.

John wrapped his arms around him slowly and closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Sherlock."


	2. Chapter 2

The room was silent. Bright light flooded through the blinds and danced on the floor. It was calm and peaceful. Sherlock and John were cuddled up next to one another sleeping. Sherlock hadn't slept this well in what seemed like an eternity and John was just happy to be cuddling with him. They were asleep, however, and probably would have appreciated the feeling much more had they been conscious.

John's door creaked open slowly. So quietly it didn't make a sound. It certainly didn't disturb Sherlock and John. "JOHN HAMISH WATSON!" His father's booming voice filled the room.

John jolted awake and fell out of the bed. He landed on the floor much harder than he did the previous morning. John groaned, but then stood up quickly. As much as it hurt he didn't want to upset his father.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" his father's voice demanded.

"Father... it's nothing.. Sherlock was just staying the night… he had nowhere to sleep so we shared a bed." John started to panic. He could tell his father had been drinking and he didn't want Sherlock to see the inevitable outcome.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT I RAISED A FAG AS A SON?!" He growled.

John's jaw set. He did not like that word… not one bit. "Don't say that!" he said firmly. He hoped Sherlock was still asleep, which was a fairly stupid hope because his father was screaming.

John's father took one step forward and grabbed John by the front of his shirt. "I will do whatever I goddamn please!" He hissed. "Fag!" He tossed John aside and he hit the wall hard.

John groaned as his back hit his dresser. "Do. Not. Say. That. Word!" He shot back ignoring the fact that his back was in pain.

"And I said I will do as I please! Don't argue with me further boy or I will beat you in front of your precious boyfriend!"

John swallowed and shut his mouth. He looked over at Sherlock, who in fact was awake, and was watching the encounter with wide eyes.

Ted Watson scoffed. "I will not have a fag living under my roof with his faggy boyfriend! You'll make me catch fagaria!"

John closed his eyes and then lunged for his father, knocking them both on the ground.

"I am sick of your abuse! I have been so patient and I can't take it anymore! And enough was the word 'fag' it's disrespectful and I don't like it! Call us rainbow or queer or gay or I don't care! Just don't use that word!" John spat. Ted kicked John off of him and John landed across the room. He clenched his stomach in pain.

"You do not talk to me like that! You hear?" he screamed, walking over to John and yanking him up by his hair. "You can no longer be a fag anymore!" He shouted, waving his opposite hand that wasn't holding John's hair around.

John's hands flew up to his dad's hand that was currently in his hair. He tried to tug his dads grip away, but he couldn't do that without ripping his hair out. He was in pain and he just wished this nightmare would end.

Sherlock opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know what to say. It wasn't that he was frozen it was that he knew John wouldn't want his father to turn his aggression on him. Still he felt helpless and the world spun. John's father was also being unreasonable. You could not simply command someone to stop being gay… apparently he made a noise because John's father suddenly turned his attention to Sherlock.

Ted threw John back down on the ground. "What's so funny fag junior!" he yelled and started making his way towards Sherlock.

"Is that the best you can do?" he laughed to himself, although he didn't find this situation to be hilarious at all. It was more a laugh of fear and nervousness if anything. "Oh, that's right I forget your IQ happens to be lower than a snails."

"Why you little!" Ted lunged across the room for Sherlock, but John was faster. He tackled his father once again and started punching him.

"YOU. DO. NOT. TOUCH. HIM!" He said in between each punch. John was shaking with anger. First his father called the both of them 'fags' and then he almost hurt Sherlock. John had had enough! He had never fought back with his father though because of how much bigger and stronger he was compared to John.

His father laughed while John punched him. "You think a fag like yourself is going to hurt me?! Please you're as weak a woman!" His laughter boomed through the room and Sherlock shivered as he felt his skin crawl. There was something about Ted that was off.

John punched him harder and harder until he had stopped laughing. His father didn't know when to stop! The word 'fag' and almost hurting Sherlock was one thing, but to now sit there and degrade woman? That was unacceptable.

"John…" Sherlock said hesitantly

John ignored him and kept hitting his father. He kept punching him until his hand was bleeding and then he still punched him.

"John!" Sherlock snapped.

John's head shot up and he looked at Sherlock. He looked back down at his father and then up at Sherlock again. He had gotten carried away and felt a bit guilty by it.

"I think he's had enough…. Let's just go… he's not worth it John…"

John swallowed and looked back down at his father.

"Better listen to him Fag son of mine. Be a good little boy and listen to your boyfriend!"

John brought his hand back to hit him again, but Sherlock caught it. "John! He's not worth it. Let's go."

John reluctantly climbed off of his father and started walking towards the door.

"You walk out that door John and you can never come back! And if you do I will not hesitate to kill you!" his father spat. He was still lying on the floor of John's room.

John took a deep breath and walked out of the house.

~O~

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!" John groaned as they walked out of the house. He had been repeating the word 'stupid' for about a half hour.

Sherlock had ignored this for the first little while thinking that John would eventually stop, but he didn't. "What's stupid?" He finally asked

"What's stupid? WHAT'S STUPID!" John came to an abrupt halt and cut Sherlock off so he couldn't move anymore. "I left my house Sherlock! I am now homeless! I don't have anywhere to go and you are asking me what's stupid!" he growled.

Sherlock winced a bit. "You can come live with me I have a—"

"I can't live with you Sherlock! I don't know you!" John screamed and then started walking again.

Sherlock ignored the fact that John had just said he didn't know him. It hurt, but John didn't mean it, he was just hurting. "Mummy won't mind and cakeman is fat and won't even know you are there."

John blinked. "Cakeman…?"

"It's my brother's name… well his name is Mycroft, but I call him cakeman because he is a fat man who eats all the cake."

John giggled as he felt the anger dissolve from him. "Well I will be sure to not let cakeman anywhere near my cake."

Sherlock smirked to John. He felt a warm feeling in his stomach at the fact that he could make John's anger go away. "Oh no… don't do that… he's like a vacuum! He'll just inhale it!" John giggled harder and walked a little closer to Sherlock. Just a little bit. The average person wouldn't have even noticed, but Sherlock wasn't average and he very much noticed.

John's laughing eventually stopped, but he didn't step away from Sherlock. If anything he kept getting closer. "I really can't stay at your house though… I would be intruding and I don't have any clothes. Thank you for the offer, but—"

"John! I promise Mummy will understand! Now please just accept it and move on! We don't even have to share a room! I have a spare one. Well actually I have about ten spare ones..." Sherlock groaned as he felt himself also walking closer to John.

John thought about this for a while. It would be nice to live with someone who actually liked him and not just someone like was forced to like him because they were related. "Yeah… alright fine."

Sherlock grinned. "Brilliant!" They kept walking for quite some time before Sherlock's had brushed against John's. He swallowed and pretended like it didn't happen. If he pretended like it didn't happen then John wouldn't have noticed.

Sherlock however was wrong. John very much noticed the way Sherlock's hand brushed against his and the way it felt. Warm, but yet somehow cold. It felt amazing and he couldn't stop himself from grabbing Sherlock's hand completely. Forgetting about everything. Forgetting about the fact that he was homeless. Forgetting about how he felt like being gay was a problem because everyone seemed to think it was a disease. Just forgetting. He entwined their fingers together and closed his eyes. He then had to open them again because he was walking and he didn't want to trip.

Sherlock's heart jumped. He looked down at their entwined hands and then forward again. He was having a hard time breathing and the world felt fuzzy. "Umm... John…"

John snapped back to the real world and dropped his hand. "Oh, God. I'm sorry Sherlock… I didn't.. I'm not... it wasn't..." John was having a hard time putting words together. He felt mortified that he had just done that.

Sherlock grinned. "I'm just saying its fine…" he grabbed John's hand and entwined their fingers together again. "It's all fine."

John felt his stomach jump and they continued walking the rest of the way to Sherlock's house.

~O~

"Mummy! I have a friend who will be living with us!" Sherlock yelled once they managed to get back to his house.

Sherlock's mother started having a coughing fit and about dropped the fine china plate she was currently holding. "A friend…?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Yes, a friend. His name is John."

Lily Holmes put down the plate she was currently holding and ran to her youngest child. She kissed him on the forehead and pulled him into a giant hug. "Oh, my baby's finally found a friend! Sherlock why didn't you introduce me sooner!" She kept kissing the top of his head.

"Mummy!" Sherlock squirmed out of her grip. He was extremely embarrassed and as red as a tomato.

John snickered and smiled sweetly at Sherlock's mother. "I really hope I don't intrude on your family… it's just… well…" John looked down.

Sherlock took his hand in his once more and looked at his mother. "John's father kicked him out because he's gay and now he doesn't have anywhere to go."

John's face paled. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn't help but think that Lily would kick him out of the house too because of what Sherlock had said. Most people didn't accept gay people and he didn't want to be kicked out of another house in less than a five hour time period.

Lily looked from her son's hand that was holding John's and then back up to his face. "Yes, he can stay here." She was overjoyed that Sherlock had a friend and now it seemed as though Sherlock liked John more than a friend. This was a dream come true for her, especially since Sherlock showed no interest in people at all. John's head shot up with so much happiness in his eyes that Lily's heart squeezed in her chest.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! I promise I'll be good and I'll help you with anything you need help with!" John bounced up and down and he squeezed Sherlock's hand.

Lily smiled warmly at him. "It's not a problem dear." She turned to Sherlock. "Listen… Sherlock I'm going to have to leave for a few days."

"When are you leaving…?" Sherlock replied slowly. His mother was never home. The last time he saw his mother was two months ago and he was actually surprised to see her when he walked into the house. His mother was a makeup artist for actors and actresses and his father was never home either. Always away on business, but what that really meant was that he was always away with one of his other "secret wives."

"I was actually just heading out of the house when you walked in… I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to say goodbye to you… or hi for that matter.." She looked down at him sadly.

He turned his head a little. "You'll be gone longer than a few days." He clenched his jaw and looked at the floor.

She swallowed. "Yes… I'll be gone for exactly two weeks… but hey! Better than two months right?" She tried to lighten Sherlock's mood, but nothing really did.

"Yeah… I suppose…" he turned to John. "Come on I want to show you the garden!" He pulled John out to the backyard and left his mother standing there by herself. He was angry with her. He always was when she left. There was nothing he could do about it of course, but it was always so lonely at the house without his mother there. He also hadn't seen his father in a year. Not that he cared… his father was not a good man so he didn't mind it one bit. Sherlock sighed to himself and soon they were in the garden.

The garden was set under a large stony gateway and was filled with an assortment of flowers. There was a section of purple, red, and yellow roses. Star gazer lilies were scattered about. There were daisies every which way. Every flower John had ever seen and some he hadn't were in the garden. It was breathing taking and John loved it.

John ran around the garden taking in each flower. He ran up to a patch of beautiful pink star gazer lilies and smelled one. He looked over at Sherlock and smiled. "These are my favourite."

Sherlock smirked and gently picked one. He placed it in John's hair behind his ear and smiled. "So pretty." He teased.

John rolled his eyes, but kept the flower in his hair anyway. He walked around the garden taking in each and every flower that he possibly could while Sherlock followed close behind. He got to the middle of the garden and realised there was a little stony path. He looked over at Sherlock to ask if he was allowed to go on the stony path. Sherlock smiled and nodded. John slowly moved his feet and started walking through the trees on the path when he got to the end the trees opened up to a beautiful secret secluded area. There was a stone bench in the middle of the grassy area and a little waterfall right next to it. John could hear birds chirping up in the trees and the sun beamed through the sky light making the water sparkle. The only sorts of flowers in the area were tulips. John gasped as he took it all in. He turned and looked at Sherlock who walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist while resting his chin on John's shoulder.

"Do you like it?" he asked softly. He knew John obviously liked it, but he didn't know what else to say.

John nodded and looked more closely. He looked at all the tulips and wondered why that was the only flower they had in the secret cove he had found. "Why tulips?"

Sherlock smirked. "Because that's," he adjusted his head and kissed John's shoulder on impulse. "My favourite flower. My mother used to tell me when I was a little boy that there were fairies that lived in the tulips. They would come out at night and play, "Sherlock shrugged a little. "I like to believe it's true. They would prepare the rest of the flowers and make them presentable for the next day so that they always looked their best for the daytime. And then once the first sign of light came up from the horizon they would hide in the trees and sleep."

John spun around in Sherlock's hold so that he was facing him. He wrapped his arms around Sherlock's neck and buried his face into Sherlock's shoulder. He wanted to kiss Sherlock very badly, but he also knew that Sherlock wasn't interested in anybody so what would make John different? They were just friends who happened to be very touchy feely, but that was it. It didn't go past that.

Sherlock waited for John to do something, but apparently John was incredibly slow with signals. That was okay though because Sherlock liked him no matter what. Which, in a way, was very weird to him because on any normal circumstances he would not be okay with slow people. John was different though. He slowly pulled back just a little and ran his fingers across John's jaw line and then under his chin. He tilted his chin up and looked into John's eyes. He slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips to John's. Sherlock smiled a little to himself when John made a cute whimpering noise. He liked that he could catch John off guard… even if he did think that his signs were the most obvious signs in the world and that even a blind man could have noticed what Sherlock was about to do.

John's heart leapt and jerked against his chest. He had kissed plenty of girls, yes, but he had never actually kissed a boy. He didn't care though because he felt amazing… Sherlock felt amazing. He closed his eyes and played with the bottom fringe on Sherlock's hair. John tilted his head to the side a little to deepen the kiss. He ran his tongue along Sherlock's bottom lip, slowly. He wasn't really sure of their boundaries just yet.

Sherlock opened his mouth and let John in. As soon as John snaked his tongue inside Sherlock captured it and gently sucked on it. He actually had no idea what he was doing, but he had seen plenty of sappy chick flicks from when cakeman had watched them, which was quite frequent, that he figured he was doing everything right. He needed John and he needed him now. He gently pulled away and put their foreheads together.

John was breathing a bit heavy and his eyes were still closed. His head was rushing and he couldn't help but think, but how amazing this was and was it always like that when kissing boys or just Sherlock? John classified it as a just Sherlock feeling.

"Why don't I show you your room?" Sherlock asked softly as he kissed John's lips once more.

John just nodded and before he knew it Sherlock had him by the hand and was dragging them through the garden. They walked back into the house and up the two flights of stairs before they came to a stop at a door. Sherlock opened it, walked inside, and then shut the door behind them. Before John could say a word Sherlock had pushed him against the wall and was attacking him mouth. This kiss was different than the one they shared in the garden. It was more urgent and frantic.

Sherlock trailed his left hand down John's arm until he slowly snatched John's wrist. His raised it above John's head and pinned it against the wall. John made a sound that went straight down to his hardening cock. He moved his head and started kissing John's neck.

John tilted his head so Sherlock could have more access and more room to explore. His head was spinning and he couldn't get over the feeling of how amazing Sherlock made him feel. Sherlock was brilliant in every way. "How far—" He was cut off by a moan that had escaped his mouth. Sherlock's mouth was spectacularly clever and he vaguely wondered if there was anything that Sherlock couldn't do. "Do you want to go?" He managed to gasp out.

"All the way," Sherlock hummed as he started to tug on John's jumper. He backed away from the wall just enough to pull it up and over John's head and toss it on the floor. He was suddenly distracted by John's upper body. John was very fit and lean and gorgeous. The franticness died down from Sherlock and he slowly took John's hand and led him over to the bed. He pushed John down lightly and then climbed on top of him so that he was hovering over John's body. He dipped his head down and gently kissed John's lips once more.

John lifted his head up ever so slightly to kiss Sherlock back just as gently. He brought his hand up and started undoing Sherlock's shirt. Once unbuttoned Sherlock pushed his body up so that he was kneeling on his knees and slowly took his shirt off. He tossed it gently to one side and bent down again.

Sherlock sucked on John's collarbone and nipped it gently. This made John whimper and gasp and Sherlock smirked to himself. Sherlock was still at a loss for what to do, but he was a very quick learner and the movies he watched with Mycroft's were surprisingly more helpful than he would have thought. He took hold of John and flipped them around so that John was on top of him.

John whimpered and closed his eyes. Sherlock was perfect…. This whole situation was perfect. John moved his hand and grabbed Sherlock's shoulder. He pulled him down gently and captured Sherlock's lips. John was really nervous and really he shouldn't even be doing this right now... he didn't even know Sherlock for Christ's sake! But god did everything feel perfect.

Sherlock's pulled away just enough so that he could talk, but their lips were still touching. "Are you sure you want this…? I don't want to pressure you…"

John kissed Sherlock's lips, but then hesitated. He slowly moved his head so that he was resting against Sherlock's neck. "Yes... I do.. But don't you think it's a bit fast... this is all so new and I-" Truthfully John was just nervous... He had never done anything like this before! Not even with a girl... And obviously Sherlock hadn't done it either.

Sherlock brought a hand up and placed it on the back of John's head "Shhh. It's alright. I'm fine waiting."

"No! But I want to! I want.. I want you! Maybe if we didn't go all the way.. Just... just take things slowly.." John didn't want to look up. He was super embarrassed and he probably ruined Sherlock's whole night!

Sherlock chuckled. "Alright! There's no need to get your knickers in a twist!" He slowly snaked a hand down and John's back and drew lazy circles. "We'll leave our clothes on.. How's that?" He asked softly as he brushed his lips across John's forehead.

John nodded slowly and then gently brought his lips down and started kissing Sherlock oh so softly.

Unfortunately this didn't last very long before they were kissing with hunger. They wanted.. God did they want, but they weren't ready and they both knew that. Sherlock's tongue tangled with John's as their hips rocked back and forth against each other. They were rolling around and fighting for dominance.

John ended up back being on bottom, but he honestly couldn't care less. He moaned into Sherlock's mouth quite loudly, but he couldn't really help it. He thrusted his hips up again and again and again as their tongues danced. The smaller boy bit Sherlock's bottom lip and tugged and this made Sherlock gasp and whimper. John snickered and let go.

Sherlock smiled and sucked on his lower lip while his hands trailed up and down John's side. John had his hands in Sherlock's hair and he kept tugging and god did it feel wonderful. Sherlock could feel the slow burning heat in the centre of his belly slowly grow into something that was almost unbearable. He moved his hips faster and quicker and the wave finally crashed over him. He shuddered and closed his eyes as he gasped John's name.

John followed seconds after Sherlock and moaned his name as well. He vaguely felt the presence of Sherlock who had apparently collapsed on top of him. They laid there breathing heavy for what felt like ages before Sherlock got up and retrieved two towels. He handed one to John and then shoved the one he had down his own pants and trousers and tried to clean up as best as he could without stripping. John did the same, but he did it a little more subtly. The taller boy snickered and then snuggled into the bed sheets with John. "How was it…?" He asked sweetly, but a bit hesitant.

"Fantastic!" John grinned and turned his head to look at him. "Except for... We really should have thought this through... I just made a mess in my pants and I don't have a change of clothes.."

Sherlock starting laughing hard and seconds later John started giggling with him. "It's alright. I have some you can use." He wrapped his arms around John and closed his eyes. Minutes passed before he spoke again. "What are we doing about school…?"

John blinked. "What about school…"

"Are we going to tell anyone that we are now... uhhh...together…?"

John giggled and smiled to himself. He was glad he was able to rule off the onetime thing ordeal because he didn't think he would be able to handle it, but then he frowned. "I don't think we should tell anyone…" John said slowly.

Sherlock felt a pain fill his chest. "Why… are you embarrassed of me..!" he said hurt that John wanted to keep this a secret.

John sat up quickly and looked at Sherlock. "No! No! Don't ever think that ok! I am not embarrassed by you Sherlock… I just… I just think we shouldn't tell anyone… you saw how my dad reacted… it will be just as bad if not worse if we tell people…" John said softly as he brushed a curl away from Sherlock's forehead.

Sherlock frowned more, but nodded. "Alright," He didn't want to keep John a secret. He wanted people to know that John was his and that no one else could have him! But if John wanted to keep this a secret then Sherlock would respect that. "Get some sleep, John." Sherlock said softly as he kissed the top of his head. "Goodnight."

John hummed, already drifting off. "Goodnight, Sherlock."


	3. Chapter 3

John awoke to the wonderful smell of coffee. He yawned and rubbed a hand over his face and waited for Sherlock to wake up. He stayed in bed for an hour and Sherlock was still sound asleep. John was bored so he decided to wake Sherlock up, but not in any normal way. John leaned over and pressed his lips to Sherlock's ear. He slowly slid his tongue inside and wiggled it around.

Sherlock woke up with a jolt and nearly fell out of the bed. "What the heck was that for…?"

John smirked cheekily. "Morning!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes, but grabbed John and pulled him into a smothering hug. "Morning! Are you hungry?"

John nodded. He wasn't usually hungry in the morning, but they hadn't eaten anything at all yesterday. John sat up and put on his jumper with some skinny jeans. He smirked at Sherlock and watched him as he was changing. As soon as Sherlock was changed they walked downstairs together and saw a man sitting at the counter reading the newspaper. John didn't know who he was, but he assumed that it was Mycroft, or as Sherlock so lovely put it Cakeman.

"I certainly hope you didn't strain anything from last night… from the noises you two were making it sounded like someone was dying." Mycroft said as he kept his nose in his newspaper.

Sherlock snickered and then looked at John who had gone a very bright shade of red. "Oh, Cakeman… You're just jealous that you can't get any action," he snickered more and this made John's face go even redder than it was previously.

Mycroft made a face and finally looked up from the newspaper. "Quite the opposite actually. I do not wish to engage in sexual intercourse… therefore I do not seek it."

Sherlock rolled his eyes and John looked like he was about to keel over and die from embarrassment. "You only say that because you know that if you were to set out and 'seek it' you would fail!" Sherlock said while still snickering. He plunged his finger in a jar of peanut butter and sucked it off. He smiled at John.

It was now Mycroft's turn to roll his eyes. Secretly he was proud of his baby brother for finding someone, but he would never admit that to Sherlock. Instead he just went back to his newspaper and tried his best to ignore the couple in the kitchen.

Sherlock waited for Mycroft to reply, but when he didn't he decided to just press forward. "So I'm going to need to borrow your credit card today."

Mycroft blinked and studied him. "Whatever for?!"

"Because John has no clothes so I need to go buy them for him." Sherlock smiled brightly.

Mycroft sighed loudly. "Fine.. But do not make this a regular thing baby brother."

Sherlock smirked lovingly. "Wouldn't dream of it Cakeman." He snickered and fed John a strawberry.

John was still a tad embarrassed, but didn't really care anymore so he ate the strawberry off of Sherlock's hand and then smiled.

Sherlock smiled back and leaned forward to kiss him. "Now where would you like to go to buy clothes?"

John grinned, "Can we go to Primark?!"

Sherlock flailed, "John! Primark? Really?! Why in the heavens name would we go shop at Primark!"

John moved his foot in circles on the ground and looked at Sherlock. "I like Primark… and it's not a lot of money… and it's giant! So many things to choose from!" he smiled.

"John we are not going to Primark! Primark is where Tourists and poor people go are you either one of those things?!"

John smirked at Sherlock and bit his lip. He was thinking about this question very carefully. "yyyeeeeesss."

Sherlock smacked his own forehead, "No John… no you are not."

"But sherlawk! I wanna go to Primark!" he whined.

Mycroft was trying his best not to laugh and Sherlock was shaking his head. "Maybe if you are a good little boy we can go to Primark after."

John grinned brightly, "Really! Yes!" he skipped around the kitchen and then ran to the front door. "Well come on then! Primark awaits!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes, but was smiling. "Oh my god I'm dating a five year old."

"Yes, but a sexy five year old!" he smirked and opened the front door.

Sherlock smiled and grabbed Mycroft's card. He walked to the front door and kissed John. "Yes, and a sexy five year old indeed."

~O~

Sherlock and John came home with bags and bags full of clothes. John really didn't see a need to get all these clothes. I mean let's be honest John would have been happy with a couple of jumpers and few a pants and trousers… Sherlock on the other hand… well let's just say he liked to shop… a lot… Sherlock kept blabbering on and on about how amazing John was going to look in all the clothes they bought him, but really John was just happy because Sherlock had let him go to Primark and he got to pick out some jumpers and fifteen Crunchies, because let's face it… John was obsessed with Crunchies. They brought the bags up to their bedroom and began to put them away. Sherlock had his own room, but it was messy with experiments so they both decided to live together in the guest bedroom… which had quickly become John's room.

Sherlock flopped on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, "Today was fun. We should go shopping all the time and buy you clothes and then you can look so cute when we go to school and I will have to force myself from jumping you because I find you so adorable and attractive and cute and you're like a little fluffy hedgehog that I just want to hold in my arms!" He squealed, but then he got a bit bitter. "Too bad somebody doesn't want us to be exclusive!" He crossed his arms across his chest and began to sulk.

John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before making his way over to the bed to lie down next to Sherlock. "Sherlock… two things. One hedgehogs are most definitely not fluffy and two.. I told you why it wouldn't be a good idea to become exclusive."

The thought of hedgehogs not being fluffy made Sherlock frown. "Hedgehogs aren't fluffy….?"

John wanted to smack his forehead and then shake Sherlock silly. Sherlock was more of a selective listener and only heard the things he wanted to. It drove John absolutely up the wall, but that was the problem with dating a genius he supposed. "You know… for the smartest man in the world. You're quite stupid…"

Sherlock's heart fluttered and jerked and twisted and he pulled John into a lip bruising kiss, then pulled back abruptly and smiled. "You think I'm the smartest man in the world?!" He said quietly.

"Of course! No one can ever compare to my Sherlock!" He grinned and rested his head on Sherlock's chest. His finger drew lazy patterns on Sherlock's stomach and he smiled to himself. Everything was perfect.

"I wish we could tell people…. I want people to know that you are taken. It makes me feel funny when people are always flirting with you.."

John giggled and couldn't stop and Sherlock thought it was the most beautiful thing in the whole entire world. "It's called jealousy Sherlock… and you needn't be jealous because I'm yours and yours only. I promise."

That wasn't true, or at least Sherlock felt that way. He knew John would never go astray and he knew that as long as the two of them were together John wouldn't cheat on him, but that didn't make the feeling go away. He sighed and closed his eyes, while he rested his fingers in John's hair. "Goodnight, John."

John knew Sherlock was having troubles accepting this, but he was also happy that Sherlock wasn't pushing him to do something he didn't want to. He closed his eyes and continued to draw circles on Sherlock's chest. "Night, Sherlock."

~O~

Sherlock walked into class the next day to see a giant plethora of girls surrounding John. It was getting close to Valentine's Day so he suspected that this may be the cause of such an awful turn of events. He took his seat like everything was normal and tried to ignore John. Although it was hard... it was really hard! He kept giggling with them and he wasn't telling them to go away. What's worse was that poor Sherlock had to stand back and act like everything was ok when it wasn't. He new John wouldn't go behind his back and hurt him, but he couldn't get rid of that horrible feeling in his stomach, so called 'jealously' as John so wonderfully put it. It was awful and tedious and he didn't like it! Then again... everything was worth it for John.. Everything would always be worth it.

Sherlock was literally five seconds away from pulling his hair out when John came back and sat next to him. "Hello!" John sung cheerily, while he took out his pencil and his notebook.

Sherlock just hummed and shook his head. "No nothing is wrong. Why would there be anything _wrong_ John?" He said a bit too bitterly for John's liking.

John blinked several times and then scribbled something down on a piece of paper. He slowly passed it to Sherlock and twiddled his thumbs while he waited

_'No, something is wrong… I can see it. Want to talk about it?'_

Sherlock sighed and wrote back.

_'No. Because there is nothing wrong. If there was I would tell you alright?'_

_'Alright… I suppose. Anyway! How was school today! It's our last class (;'_

_'Brilliant deduction. I'm even taking you somewhere special after! ;D'_

_'That face is strangely creeping me out and it makes me think the place you are taking me isn't that special at all…'_

_'Nonsense! Would I ever do you any harm? Ha Ha.'_

_'You are making it sound like you are going to take me to a back alleyway so that you can kill me and sell my bones for some quick cash. I should warn you I am a serial killer so I will be able to stop you should the opportunity should arise.'_

Sherlock practically bursted out laughing and nearly fell to the floor. The teacher turned around and glared at him and he gave a small shrug.

'_Yeah right! You couldn't hurt a flea!'_

_'I happen to be a brilliant actor Mister Holmes. I really am a thirty year old man who likes to lure little boys in and then kills them.'_

_'Well, I am certainly not little!'_

_'Well you know what I mean.. 16-19 age range! It's great fun! …for a serial killer.'_

_'And so why are you admitting this to me, John? I mean… if that even is your real name!'_

_'Course' not! But you don't get to know my real name! And I am telling you because I have great plans for you Mister Holmes.'_

Sherlock could barely contain his laughter. John was one of a kind that was for sure.

_'Please, call me Sherlock. So from a detectives view point… might I ask how you manage to achieve this?'_

_'Hell no! Are you kidding! If I told you that would give my secrets away… but umm.. 578.'_

_'578…?'_

_'Yes, 578. That's my number! That's how many teenage boys I have lured in with my handsomely charming good looks. Hehe.'_

Sherlock rolled his eyes, but was smiling. This was probably the oddest conversation he had ever had with anybody.

_'Those poor children! How can you live with yourself at night! YOU FIEND!' _

John was trying so hard to contain his laughter. He was shaking violently with soundless giggles.

_'I curl up next to the fire with a good book about kittens and a warm cup of tea'._

Sherlock was in the middle of replying when the bell rang so he just stuffed the note in his pocket and smiled at John. "Ready to go to the special place?"

John smirked and wanted to take his hand, but didn't. "Oh god, yes!'

~O~

The Cab that was taking Sherlock and John to wherever the hell they were going eventually stopped. Sherlock looked over at John and smiled before paying the cabbie and climbing out.

John climbed out as well, but it didn't mean he wanted to… he looked around and the place was a completely sketch place. There was graffiti everywhere and all that was around them was an old abandoned arcade game arena. "Sherlock.. This place is sketchy… what are we even doing here…"

Sherlock grinned from ear to ear. "We are going into that arcade place!" he sung and started skipping towards the door.

"Sherlock! It's abandoned!" John flailed and stayed where he was.

"No, it's not!" He snickered creepily and then looked over his shoulder. "Coming?"

John flapped his hands and wiggled a bit, but in the end decided to follow Sherlock. They pushed through the doors and John was overcome with arcade music filling the air. The place looked very retro and it had arcade games everywhere. It was no doubt a place where unwanted kids came to sort of cool off. Sherlock kept walking through the arcade until he came across a photo booth. He snickered at John and knocked three times. "It's me Sherlock!" he sung happily and glanced over at John again.

"Sherlock!" a voice called happily from behind the curtain "Oh my god! Love! It's been ages!" The strange woman pushed aside the curtain and gathered Sherlock up in her arms. She placed loving kisses all over Sherlock's face before finally pulling away and smiling.

"Hello Irene. It's good to see you too." He smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

_"Hello Irene. It's good to see you too." He smiled._

Irene grinned and ruffled his hair. "And here I thought you hated me!"

John's jaw was clenched. This- This- _This_ Woman! This so-called 'Irene' had practically just made out with his boyfriend's face and Sherlock didn't seem fazed by it one bit!

Sherlock pouted. "I could never hate you, Irene. Your mind is _so brilliant_ and fascinating." He hummed and glanced at John.

John clenched his jaw even more. He was afraid that if he clenched it any more he would break his teeth… Those perfect, perfect teeth. Sherlock called Irene _brilliant_. Such a silly compliment. A word used all the time by people all over the world to describe the simplest things. Yet, for some reason, when it came from Sherlock it meant so much more. So much that he thought the whole universe might rip open because Sherlock described something as brilliant besides himself. And it wasn't directed towards him.

Irene squealed, she hadn't even noticed John standing there. "So, what brings you here, Lover boy?"

John was practically shaking with anger at this point. 'Lover boy'?! Who the fuck did this woman think she was! John had no idea and he didn't like it, but he was going to be a 'good boy' for Sherlock and just let the scene play out, and then once they were alone he would rip his head off! He closed his eyes and counted backwards from ten and the anger melted away. He breathed a sigh of relief. Counting to ten worked almost ninety-nine percent of the time.

Sherlock smiled at her. "I missed you; I thought it was quite obvious."

She smirked and raised an eyebrow. That was a very unsherlockian thing to say, even she knew that. Her eyes flickered to John and her grin became even wider. "Oh. I see what's really happening here." Irene looked back at Sherlock and shook her head.

The anger washed over John again and dammit all to hell counting backwards from ten wasn't working this time! His mobile started to vibrate in his pocket and this just made him even more angry and anxious because he wasn't about to answer it and the constant buzzing was pissing him off! He decided to step in and put an end to… well to whatever _this_ was. He stuck out his hand and held it to Irene. "Hello. I'm John, Sherlock's boyfriend. And you?" He said, trying to hold his anger back.

Irene smirked and took it. She slowly brought it up to her lips and kissed his hand before dropping it. "Oh, I can most certainly see that." She hummed and then gave Sherlock a disapproving look.

John blinked. "You- what..?" He turned to look at Sherlock, who was wearing a smug look upon his face.

"Now, Irene. Let's not jump to conclusions here. I simply missed you and thought it best to introduce my boyfriend to you." He explained, trying not to let the beginnings of a panic attack creep up on him.

"Since when do you _miss_ people, Sherlock?" she sighed and stared him down.

"Since I met John! He has shown me how to be a better person and for that I thank him every day." Sherlock hummed, sweetly.

"What...? I've known you for like three days and not once have you thanked me for 'making you a better person'."

Sherlock bit his lip and looked around the room for a means to escape. Unfortunately, there wasn't one in sight.

Irene sighed and leaned up against the frame of the photo booth. She looked back and forth between John and Sherlock, waiting for someone to talk.

John felt another wave of anger wash over him just as his mobile started buzzing again. "Sherlock…" He said in a warning tone. He was not a happy camper at the moment and Sherlock wasn't going to shimmy his way out of this one.

Sherlock swallowed thickly and mumbled something that John couldn't possibly hear. He shuffled his feet a little, as he kept staring at the ground. How had everything gone so wrong? Sure, Sherlock was awkward and didn't know how to deal with things, but really he thought this would work and not blow up in his face, like it currently was.

"I didn't hear you Sherlock." He said calmly, and somehow, to Sherlock, that was much worse.

Irene arched and eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew why Sherlock had brought John, but she wouldn't say anything. This was their problem not hers.

Sherlock swallowed. "Well, Irene has a crush on me.. Always has..." He looked up and forced a small smile on his lips.

Irene didn't intervene. Mainly, because this was true. She had a major crush on Sherlock, but he never seemed interested. Even when she walked around naked in the back of the arcade. She was quite jealous of John if she was perfectly honest. He was a lucky man… a very lucky man indeed.

"That didn't explain shit, Sherlock." John said a bit snappishly. His calm demeanour was quickly slipping away, and from the way Sherlock was fidgeting it meant that they were obviously not here for a good reason. His mobile started ringing for the third time.. God dammit! Who was trying to contact him! He still ignored it.

Sherlock glared at John "Well, how do you think I feel!" Sherlock crossed his arms and pouted a bit.

John blinked. He most certainly not expecting this reaction and he felt the anger slip away some as he watched Sherlock's distress play out. He wanted to smooth the pout away and tell him everything was going to be ok... But he had to get answers so he stood his ground. "What..?"

"All those girls are always hovering around you in school and I just have to sit back and watch while they flirt and practically throw themselves at you!" He sniffled and looked up at John. It hurt, but he didn't tell John that.

"So.. So you brought me here to make me _jealous_?!" He licked his lips and shook his head. "You can't just do that, Sherlock!" His anger for Irene, which had moved to Sherlock, which had then dissolved was now suddenly back with vengeances and directed at Sherlock again. "Right... Of course you did.." He shook his head more and looked at Irene. "It was very nice to meet you, Irene. I just wish the circumstances could be different." He nodded and then started walking out of the arcade.

Sherlock felt awful... Looking back at it now he could very much see the wrong in his problem... He ran after him and called out. "Wait! John!" He pushed through the doors and was standing on the gravel with John still ahead of him.

"Save it, Sherlock!" He growled and tried to think of a way to go home. He had no idea where they were and he couldn't figure out why there was an arcade in the middle of nowhere! It seemed pointless and stupid and how people managed to come here after school all the time was beyond him! Hell they probably just didn't go to school and stayed there playing Pac Man and Mr. Do all day long.

"No, John.. Just listen! I wanted to show you how it felt! I-" Sherlock fumbled for the words, until John cut him off.

"Then you talk to me, Sherlock!" He practically screamed. He needed Sherlock to shut up. He just wanted to go home. He started walking back to what he hoped would be London. John was shit at directions and for all he knew he could be walking to Scotland at this rate.

"John.. Where are you going..?" Sherlock blinked, but followed him anyway.

"Home!" John growled.

"You're going the wrong way..." Sherlock whispered. Now was not the time to correct John, but if he really wanted to get home then he did in fact need to correct John. Everything was so complicated he wanted to throw up.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-" he cut himself off and turned around and started walking to London. Of course Sherlock would make a fool of him at a time like this! It was inevitable. John decided he was going to buy a map and memorise it so that things like this didn't happen!

Sherlock blinked and decided that he should just keep his mouth shut. So far talking seemed to make John angrier. He decided that he _really_ didn't like an angry John. He wanted to make John happy, but he didn't know how... He pulled out his mobile and called a cab. At least then John wouldn't be crotchety from the long walk they were sure to endure if they walked all the way home. Eventually the cab pulled up and John climbed in as Sherlock followed. Everything felt wrong. John wouldn't talk to him… Wouldn't look at him... Barely even acknowledged him. He swallowed and tried to think of something he could say to make everything better... Make John feel better because right now everything hurt. It hurt more than it ought to and it hurt a whole lot worse than when John had a sea of girls throwing themselves at him. He racked his brain for anything to make John forgive him. He tried to think of what Mummy used to say when he was little and would hurt someone's feelings. Two simple words… He didn't know if two words can make all the pain Sherlock was feeling go away, but he had to try because right now anything was better than nothing. "I'm sorry..." He whispered before he even knew what was happening.

John sighed, a long and suffering sigh. "I know, Sherlock... I know." He finally looked at Sherlock. "Just don't do it again, yeah?"

Sherlock nodded slowly and for the rest of the cab journey, they rode in uneasy silence.

~O~

The cab seemed to drive on forever, but eventually it came to a stop in front of Sherlock's- and his- home. It was still weird to him calling it his home, but it was, because at the moment he didn't have one. He left the cab with Sherlock still inside so that he would have to pay the cabbie. It was only fair really and John knew he shouldn't be mad at Sherlock, but he honestly couldn't help it… Sherlock was socially awkward, hell everyone knew that! He knew that even before he talked to Sherlock.

He sighed and scrubbed his face as he sat on his bed. He suddenly remembered the bombardment of calls he had received and pulled his mobile out. They were all from Harry and that worried John a little bit, but surely she was fine. They were sort of close she probably just missed him. He had nothing better to do so he called her back. He waited and waited and then it went to her voicemail. He sighed and set his mobile down. John flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling he felt like he was going through a midlife crisis and yet he was only seventeen… surely that couldn't be good. After a few minutes he slowly picked up his mobile and tried again. It still went straight to her voicemail. That wasn't like Harry… She almost always answered her mobile. He'd give it ten minutes before he called again. He decided to take a shower in the meantime, to try and take his mind off of today's events. He stripped his clothes and got in the shower, letting the water wash over him and drain all the emotions from today away. Showers always seem to have a calming effect on him, and if he could he would stay in the shower forever, but right now he was worried so he reluctantly got out of the shower and dried off. He got dressed and called Harry again. When Harry didn't answer he panicked. Something was definitely wrong here. He ran down the stairs and grabbed the first pair of keys he found.

"John..?" Sherlock was sitting at the table bugging Mycroft when John came running down the stairs, looking a little bit insane. He watched as John ran through the garage, and then heard a car start and peel away. Sherlock was fairly certain John didn't know how to drive… Sherlock glanced at Mycroft and frowned. "Is that normal behaviour when you and your boyfriend are fighting…?"

Mycroft swallowed thickly and stood up immediately. "Nope. Not at all, Sherlock. Come on." He grabbed the other pair of keys and ran to the garage as well. He didn't know what was going on, but after doing a bit of digging on John's family history he knew it couldn't be good.. Not good at all. And even if he was never going to admit it to anyone, but himself… he cared for Sherlock a lot and he knew that if something- anything were to happen to John, Sherlock would not be ok, that and he seemed to be growing fond of John. He was always going to be there for his baby brother and right now Sherlock needed him even if he didn't realise it yet.

~O~

John drove the 2012 BMW 5 series as fast as he could. He didn't know how to drive, not one bit, and the fact that it was a newer car was a tad scary, but Harry was in trouble and damn him if he wasn't about to risk everything to save her. He barely touched the gas and the car seemed to lunge forward like he pressed it too hard. He growled and pressed lighter and soon he got the foot work of the gas pedal down to a manageable pace. He turned the corner and screamed as he almost hit a dog, but luckily for him he managed to miss it. He kept driving on the curb and all he could think about was 'thank god this wasn't stick'. He was actually quite surprised that no one pulled him over for wreck less driving and eventually, he pulled the car up to his house and jumped out. He didn't even bother to turn it off, he just ran to the front door and bursted into the house. What he saw made his heart clench and panic rise in him. He stood there breathing heavily as he watched the scene play out. He was frozen; he didn't know what to do. He couldn't move, he couldn't think, he couldn't speak. He watched in horror as he father had both hands around Harry's neck and was currently yelling at her. He was in shock and the only thing that finally brought him back to life was his father's booming voice.

"You have some fucking nerve coming back here!" He growled, as he continued strangling the life out of Harry.

"IM GOING TO KILL YOU!" John screamed and was finally able to lunge at his father. He was a lot like Mycroft in that sense… Even if they weren't close he would do everything and anything for his baby sister. Even if it killed him.

His father reacted quickly, however, and threw Harry aside so that she slammed into the wall, but that was all fine with John because at least she was coughing and gasping for air. At least she was _safe._ If he had been minutes later he was positive that he would have been too late.

John tried to knock his father over, but his dad was obviously stronger. He picked John up and then slammed him to the floor and pinned him down. "I said I didn't want a fag as a son! I told you that I would kill you if you came back." He said calmly as he wrapped his short, chubby fingers around John's neck.

John just glared up at his father. "You're pathetic! Did you know that? Technically me being a gay is your fault!" He spat trying to buy himself time, but he knew better than anyone that there wasn't anyone coming so what was the point...

"Why you little-" he squeezed harder, cutting off John's airway.

"FATHER STOP!" John faintly heard Harry's raspy voice call from somewhere in the distance "I- I have a girlfriend! Her name is Clara! I love her and I'm planning to run away with her!"

Ted immediately stopped strangling his son and glared at her. "So what you are saying is I have two fairies for children?" He pulled out a gun, which had been hiding in the back of his trousers, and pressed the barrel to John's temple.

Harry screamed and started crying. "No! Father! Please!" She choked and watched as he cocked the gun.

John barely registered what was happening. He was heaving for breath and everything sounded far, far away. Like he was underwater and he was trying to listen to the sounds on the surface. He didn't hear the door open and he didn't feel Sherlock tackle his father to the ground wrestling for the gun. He coughed and coughed as things started to become clearer and more focused. He turned his head and his brain stopped. He blinked rapidly and tried to call out, but his sound didn't travel. His throat felt like it was burning. It hurt so much and he didn't care. He didn't care that it hurt to speak or yell he wanted to reach out, but he couldn't. His vocal cords wouldn't let him and he hated that.

Eventually, Ted had Sherlock pinned to the ground and he had control of the gun. 'Where the fuck is Mycroft!' Sherlock thought as he glared the gun down. If he was going to die he was not going to be frightened. Well, ok, let's be honest. He was terrified, but he would most certainly not let it show. He wouldn't give Ted the satisfaction of the fear in his eyes as he pulled the trigger. As Sherlock's brain exploded onto the wall with the frightened look still on his face. He wouldn't let Ted win this battle. He may have the satisfaction of killing him, but he would never- _never_ see the fear Sherlock was feeling at that exact moment.

"Sherl-" John coughed and groaned "Sherl-" he took a deep breath. "Sherlock... Don't... Please.." He managed. He knew it was stupid because Sherlock wasn't doing anything... He didn't have a choice in the matter. He was about to watch as his father killed the man he loved. He hadn't even told him how he felt yet... It was too soon... All new.. He started to cry as he stared at Sherlock.

Sherlock didn't answer. He kept staring at the gun and he reached his hand across the floor and found John's. The touch of John's fingers on his calmed him and he gave a reassuring squeeze that everything was going to be ok, even if he didn't feel it himself. He held onto John with everything he had, projecting as much kindness and love towards the boy as he could. A thank you because John had saved him and at least he would get to experience some happiness before he died. The young detective had always known he wouldn't live a long life. Somewhere deep down he knew that he would die at a young age, but when he pictured dying he was always alone… Alone and cold and dark. He wasn't alone now though… He had John and that's all he could possibly ask for. Sherlock closed his eyes, letting peace wash over him, as the sound of the gun shot rang through the air.


	5. Chapter 5

The touch of cool fingers washed over John. It was meant as an act of comfort, to reassure him everything was going to be alright, but instead it just brought sadness. No matter how hard he wanted he couldn't fix this… No one could. This was the end for Sherlock and it hurt John to know that he was partly to blame. Slowly he closed his eyes as he held Sherlock's hand. He couldn't watch… he couldn't watch his best friend die. If he did the image would haunt him for a lifetime, of that he was sure of. He flinched and squeezed Sherlock's hand as hard as he could as soon as he heard the sound of a gun being fired.

Sherlock's body was completely relaxed waiting for the bullet to hit him, but it never came. Slowly he opened one eye to see Ted wobbling back and forth on his feet. The next thing he knew Ted was falling forward, but before he could land on top of Sherlock, Sherlock was able to roll away. He ran into John and smiled up at him. "Hi." He whispered as he stared at John's face. A face which he thought he would never be able to see again.

John's eyes flew open. He didn't understand… He looked back and forth from Sherlock to his father, and then he looked at the door where he saw Mycroft breathing heavily and holding the gun out in front of him. John swallowed hard as he looked back at his father, who was currently laying completely still on the floor. "Is he…?" He couldn't finish that sentence, but thankfully Mycroft understood it nonetheless.

"No. He's not dead. I just shot him in the leg.. To be honest I'm surprised he passed out…" His chest was heaving in and out. He was practically shaking on the inside with fear, but he wouldn't let Sherlock know that… caring was a disadvantage for him. He would blame the cake on his shortness of breath before anything else.

"Glad to see you made it just in time…" Sherlock drawled, clearly not happy with how close his life was to ending.

"Sorry.. I couldn't find my gun because it wasn't where I last put it." Mycroft scrunched up his face, clearly blaming Sherlock for the misplacement of his gun. Sherlock just rolled his eyes at him in return.

John looked at his father and then looked up at Sherlock. He let out a cry of happiness as he wrapped his arms around him and held him as tight as he could. He didn't care if Sherlock could breathe he was just ecstatic that Sherlock was even still alive. He knew from that moment on that he owed cakeman anything and everything he ever needed because saving Sherlock's life was the best thing that has ever happened to him. "Don't ever do that to me again, you twat!"

Sherlock just chuckled. It was so like John to use vulgar language at a time like this. "Well I can't promise you anything, but I will try my hardest to stay alive forever and ever." He smiled and pushed himself up a tad to kiss John sweetly.

John smirked into the kiss as his hands found a place in Sherlock's hair. "Tosser." He whispered, lovingly.

"Always." Sherlock whispered back.

Mycroft rolled his eyes, but was smiling at the sentimental exchange happening further in the room. "Well, I called an ambulance. Harry.. Will you be alright here?" He waited for an answer, but she just nodded at him. "So, we have one of two options. We can wait for the ambulance to arrive to make sure he doesn't leave or we—"

"Or we can shoot him." John said flatly. He wanted the man lying on the floor dead and lying in a pool of his own blood. He didn't want to have to deal with him. He had hurt harry, he had hurt John, and then he hurt Sherlock. John hated the man and wanted him to die so that he could go straight to hell.

"Now John." Mycroft drawled. "Think about this. Wouldn't it be worse if he were taken to a place and locked up never to see the light of day again? Because I can assure you that's where he is going." He waited for John to respond and when he didn't he continued. "My family owns a special place. Much worse than jail. He will go in and he won't come out that much I can promise you.. So now the question is: Do you want to stay here and wait for the ambulance to arrive or do you want to leave right now?

John looked up at Sherlock hoping he would tell him what the right thing to do was. Sherlock just stared at him. He supposed the right thing would be to wait… He was his father after all, but John couldn't stand to be in the room with this man any longer. All he wanted to do was to go home and take a shower, to wash off all the bad memories away. "I want to leave…" He whispered and tore his eyes away from his unconscious dad. He watched as Mycroft nodded and then walked out of the house.

Sherlock stood up and held out his hand. "Come on…" He whispered. If he was being completely honest with himself he was a bit shaken up and terrified, but he kept reminding himself that it was over and nothing bad was going to happen now.

John shook his head. His neck hurt and he didn't feel well. He kept staring at his father's bleeding body and he couldn't look away. "Carry me.." He felt Sherlock bend down and lift him into his arms. His eyes fell shut, but then opened when he remembered about Harry. He wanted to tell her to come with him, to tell her that Sherlock has plenty of space and that he wouldn't mind, but when he looked at the spot she was recently standing in… she wasn't there. He sighed as he realised she must have already ran off. He let his eyes slip closed again as Sherlock carried him to the car and back to a place where he could call home.

~O~

The car pulled up to the house and John got out without a word. He needed a shower even though he wasn't necessarily dirty. He just needed to wash all the bad stuff away, watch it run down the drain and disappear forever. However, he knew that was impossible… He sighed as he went up to his room and went into the bathroom. He turned the faucet and stripped down to nothing. After a while the room filled with steam and he sighed happily. John made his way over to the shower and stepped inside.

The water rushed over him just like he wanted. He slowly sank down so that he was sitting and leaning back against the wall. That was his favourite part about the shower, the ability to sit down, but have the feeling of hot rain pouring down on him. John let his eyes fall shut and he just forgot, he couldn't tell you how long he was in there for, but by the time he got out he was bright red. This brought a smile to play on John's lips. Slowly, he wrapped a towel around him and stepped out into his room. John looked up and practically screamed as he saw Sherlock sprawled on his bed. He really wasn't expecting Sherlock to be in here… In John's brain he seems to think that Sherlock hates him for what happened tonight.

Sherlock looked up and blinked at John's scream. "What's wrong?" he flailed, sounding concerned.

"I- nothing you just scared me…" he walked over to the dresser and pulled open one of the drawers, searching for some pants. "I thought you were mad at me…" He mumbled, mainly to himself, but of course Sherlock still heard him.

Sherlock's heart broke. John thought that he was mad at him because he almost died… that was so, so very wrong. "John… I'm not.." he trailed off and swallowed. He waited until John had his pants on. "Come here…" He whispered. When John didn't move he racked his brain for things that could help. He was never good at emotional problems and now that he actually had to talk about them… it troubled him. "Please."

John stood there for a minute staring at the floor before he nodded and slowly made his way over to Sherlock. He climbing into the bed and nuzzled himself into Sherlock's arms. The warmth of Sherlock's arms wrapping around his naked back soothed him and he closed his eyes. "It's my fault…" he whispered.

"No! It wasn't! I would die a thousand times over if It meant I could save your life." He said as he ran his fingers through John's wet hair. In all of his years of not caring he never thought he would be a cuddly person, but he loved cuddling with John.

"You said that you would live forever and ever though…" He sniffled and grabbed one of Sherlock's hands. "You promised…" he whispered as he started to play with his fingers.

"And I promise that I will live forever and ever, unless, it means that dying is going to save your life…" He paused and took a deep breath. He watched as John's hands were playing with his fingers and he added very quietly, so quietly he wasn't sure if John even heard it. "Wanna know why…"

John tried to think of reasons that Sherlock would do that, but he couldn't. He thought about just being quiet for a while, but that wouldn't be good either. "Why…?" he finally whispered as he continued to play with Sherlock's hand.

"Because even though everyone thinks it's not possible… even though I thought that myself up until three days ago… even though the world might not ever agree with our life choices… and even though your father hates you for it… I-" He took a long shaky breath. This was hard for him, but he wanted to do it. "I think I love you…."

John's breath caught. He didn't know what to say and of all the things he thought Sherlock was going to say it wasn't that. John knew it wasn't true, but Sherlock had a reputation of not caring for anything… of being a sociopath. He swallowed thickly as he thought that he used to be one of those kids who thought that about that of Sherlock. Ever since Primary school Sherlock had been there. Hiding away… being by himself on the playground, looking at worms. No one wanted to go to Sherlock, no one wanted to reach out because Sherlock was different. Even John hadn't wanted to go near him at that young age, but the truth was Sherlock was just a lonely scared little boy on the inside, a boy that had to go through years and years of solitude because he happened to be different. Even now he got made fun of consistently and it made John sick to think that he would not be laying here with Sherlock right now if he didn't take that up that dare.

"Please say something…" Sherlock swallowed as he kept taking in deep breaths to try and calm himself.

John rolled in his grip and swallowed. He gently brought his hand up and stroked Sherlock's cheekbone. "I love you, too." He whispered. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't?" He frowned.

Sherlock pursed his lips and then shook his head. "I wanted to… I did, but then I thought back to Vanessa… And my father… Mycroft, everyone at school. Do you know… ever since I was in Primary school I've been told the same thing.. It's always the same concept, same phrase… After a while it just-" He took a breath and closed his eyes. "It just sticks... and you start to believe what they say." He was glad for the darkness that enveloped them… He wasn't good about talking about his feelings in general, but in the dark it was easier to talk. "They say 'sticks and stones will break your bones, but names will never hurt you' well I think that whoever came up with that is a fucking twat. Because they do… they do hurt. You start to take in everything they say to heart and you think 'maybe the world really will be a better place without the freak in the back of the class that can read minds'… so you start planning. Planning to make them happy, to finally give them what they want. You sit in your room contemplating on the idea while you're sitting on your bed with a bottle of pills, or a gun, or maybe a rope… and you just… cry. For me it was the gun… that's why Mycroft couldn't find it…" A tear escaped his eye and fell from Sherlock's face, but he didn't care. "Everyday I would lock myself in my room for hours thinking, writing, planning. I sat there with the gun pressed to my head and I thought 'come on Sherlock.. Just pull the trigger. No one will even notice your missing because no one wants you… your mum's never around and neither is your father, Mycroft has been telling you since you were a young age that caring isn't an advantage so obviously he didn't care, and then the people at school who take time out of their day to make your life a living hell… well they obviously want you gone. They have said it enough times that it's stuck'… but then I think… 'Don't do it Sherlock… you're stronger than this and what is this going to prove? That you're weak? That you're letting them win?' So I put the gun down because even if they make my life miserable everyday of their lives… I refuse to let them win."

John was a crying mess. Out of everything he had thought he had never thought Sherlock had let the words get to him. He clung to Sherlock with everything he had and he refused to let go. "Sherlock… I'm so sorry… I had no idea…" He whispered between breaths. God, what could he even say to that..? More than anything he was glad Sherlock was still here, but it still hurt him deeply to know that Sherlock felt like that every single day…

Sherlock smiled sadly as he ran his fingers through John's hair. "Most people don't, love." He laid their holding John in silence. "Just remember that you saved me…" he whispered and kissed John's head. "Now go to sleep…" He felt as John nodded against him and soon the smaller boy was asleep in his grip. It had been a long day and he was thankful that John didn't make a bigger deal about his past life. He closed his eyes and let deep sleep wash over him.


	6. Chapter 6

School. School. School. School. _School_! Sherlock hated school with the passion. It was absolutely pointless because he already knew everything! But Mycroft and his father would have none of it. He thought that maybe he could get out of it because he had almost died yesterday, but when he heard the door open and saw cakeman standing in the doorway, covering his eyes with his hand, he realised that that was not the case.

"Wake up! Time for school!" He sung with his hand over his eyes still.

Sherlock groaned and rolled his eyes. "I'm already awake and we aren't doing anything you don't need to act like an adolescent child."

Mycroft dropped his hand and glared. "I happened to be respecting your privacy! Anyway, John's still asleep. Wake him up and get ready for school!"

"Mycroft! I almost died yesterday! I'm not going to school." He pouted and held John closer

"Ahh, but you see you didn't! So you still have to go!" He snickered and then left.

Sherlock threw a pillow at the back of his head and he laughed. He ran his fingers through John's hair gently. "John... John wake up, love.." He kissed his head.

John woke up slowly and groaned. It was still dark outside and Sherlock was waking him up! He didn't understand... "Whyyy?" He pouted.

"Because it's time for school." He smirked and ran a hand down John's naked back.

"Fuck..." He groaned and then snickered and pretended to cough. "Actually I'm sick!"

"You are not!" Sherlock smirked. "Now come on. Get up."

John reluctantly rolled out of bed and fell on the ground, he crawled to the dresser and found a shirt and some trousers and started pulling them on. John really hated mornings...

Sherlock just laughed and stood up. "Oh! Stop being so dramatic! School can be fun!" He snickered because it most definitely couldn't. He walked to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

"Oi! Shut it!" John grumbled as he pulled his jumper on and his trousers, while he was still on the floor.

When Sherlock emerged from the bathroom he looked like a god, to John anyway. He was still wet and had his towel wrapped loosely around his hips.. All John would have to do was—

"I like that jumper on you." Sherlock smiled, making John lose his train of thought. "It's probably the only one I do like. It's not hideous!"

"Hey! My other jumpers aren't hideous!" He was wearing his black and white stripped one. It was thin and made of cotton and it showed off John's rugby body.

Sherlock hummed. "Keep telling yourself that." He snickered and started to get dressed.

John threw a pillow at his back and headed downstairs. He wasn't angry, he was just hungry, and he figured it wouldn't hurt to give Sherlock some privacy. He fixed himself some breakfast and sat down to eat his oatmeal. He felt like it was bland, but really that was all they had at the Holmes residence because some people didn't like much flavour. John glared at the ridiculous thought.

Eventually, Sherlock came down the stairs all dressed and ready to go. He always dressed in a suit, and looked posh. Most of the kids made fun of him for it, but John thought that if he dressed any less he wouldn't be Sherlock really. He knew that that was a silly thought, but he couldn't help but think it. John finished his horrendous oatmeal and then said goodbye to cakeman. He smiled and walked out the door with Sherlock.

~O~

John sighed as he picked at his food. It was a nice day outside, sure, but he just wished that he could be sitting on the grass eating lunch with Sherlock. After his little confession last night, John has felt like the worst boyfriend known in existence. Not because he didn't know, but because he didn't really say much after… he had no idea what to say! It was probably better that way anyway; Sherlock doesn't like to deal with emotion. Still… the thought of not being there for Sherlock after he said that hurt a bit.

John looked up from across the lunch table and to what was known as 'Sherlock's tree'. He always sat there and people tended to stay as far away from the tree as possible… unless of course you were going to pick on him. John smiled as he watched Sherlock read 'Treasure Island'. John wasn't one to say anything, but that book was so worn he imagined that Sherlock had read, and reread, it a lot. He meant to ask Sherlock about it, but he didn't want to make Sherlock uncomfortable and he had just never got around to it. Sherlock looked so beautiful sitting up against the tree trunk and the sun—

"—Isn't that right John?" John was snapped out of his thoughts by one of his rugby friends. John took his eyes off of Sherlock at looked at the kid, known as Alex.

"I'm sorry. My mind was somewhere else… What was that?" He felt like a twat admitting that. They had probably been talking to him this whole time and he wasn't even listening.

"We were just saying that if Brian and Sherlock were to fight.. Brian would win. We wanted your opinion." He explained while the other players snickered and gave Brian arm punches.

John sighed and looked at Sherlock. "Oh I dunno… I feel like Sherlock has some hidden muscles.. I bet he's one of those kids you think is scrawny and then BAM! He has you in a head lock."

Brian growled. "I can take him! I'll even prove it!" he stood up and started stomping over to Sherlock's tree.

'shit… shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit balls and buggery!' John quickly jumped up from the table and followed Brian… which was a mistake because now the whole entire table was following him!

"Hey!" Brian yelled and stopped right in front of Sherlock.

Sherlock sighed and didn't look up from his book. They weren't worth his time. He probably just came over to call him some names, push him around a bit, and then he would leave. He had John now so he didn't care what they thought of him anymore. "Yes, Brian?" He hummed, with his nose still buried in the book.

"When I'm talking to you, you look at me! Do you understand?!" He spat.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "And why would I look at you when I know you just came over here to pick on me? I'd much rather read, Brian, bullying doesn't suit you."

"Maybe I came over here to confess my undying love to you." He hummed and kicked at Sherlock's out stretched, crossed feet, gently.

"Well, then, in that case I am not interested. As I appreciate the sentiment you're not really my type so just run along and get back to yo—" Sherlock was interrupted by the book being taken rudely from his hands. He finally looked up at Brain and glared at him. "Give. That. Back."

"OH! So that got your attention!" He smirked. "Tell me Sherlock what would happen if I were to…" He trailed off as he started to rip the first ten pages out.

"STOP IT!" Sherlock screamed. "My grandmother gave that to me!" He would not stand up. He would _not_ stand up. Because standing up would lead to a fight and that was not a road he wanted to go down.

"Awww! That's so fucking precious!" He sneered as he just gave up on the ten pages and tore the book in half. It took less time and now the whole thing was destroyed. He threw the remaining scraps at Sherlock's face and started laughing hysterically, as did the rest of the team… all but John anyway.

John drew in a sharp breath. He was so close to saying something… but it was just a book… Sherlock wasn't hurt… it was fine…

Sherlock looked down at the scraps in his lap and felt rage. That was _his_ book. That book was special to him and they just took it and ruined it. He looked up at Brian with eyes that were on fire. "Tell me Brian. Do you bully me because you're jealous? Or do you bully me because it's the only way you can talk to me? Because we both know that you like me, but are to fucking scared to admit it!" He growled.

Brian screamed. How dare Sherlock accuse him of being a poof! He ran over to Sherlock and yanked him up by his hair. He snickered when Sherlock yelped. "You know… I originally came over here because Johnny boy said that I couldn't beat you up in a fight. I wasn't going to fight you because I'm better than that, but when you sit there and tell lies about me… well you really should learn your place at this school!" he hissed and shoved Sherlock up against the tree, holding him there.

Sherlock coughed a little bit and was terrified if he was being honest. He had got beaten up before, but it has only happened twice. Usually it was just emotional abuse he received from his peers. "Oh, Brian, are you going to punch me? This is a low… especially for you." He hummed. He refused to let them see the fear.

Brian thought about this and then a slow smile spread across his lips. He saw the way John was looking at him…and this would only prove his theory. "No, actually I think I will have your boyfriend do it. Right here." He trailed his freehand down to Sherlock's stomach.

'What… Did- did John tell them…?' Sherlock blinked. If John hadn't told them and he was just being a smart arse.. Well he supposed for John's sake he would play dumb. "And who might that be?" He drawled, clearly sounding un-amused.

"Why none other than our head captain!" He snickered.

John's heart dropped. He had no idea how Brian knew… maybe he was just guessing… he didn't know, but he wasn't about to agree with the low life brat. "Umm. You're mistaken. I'm not gay."

Brian snickered "then prove it." He hummed as he held Sherlock tighter against the tree.

John sighed and looked at Sherlock. "And how the fuck do I do that?"

Brian groaned. Really John was an idiot sometimes. "You punch him in the stomach… I already said that.."

John wasn't an idiot.. He knew exactly what Brian had wanted… even if it had scared him. Even if he wouldn't do it, but if he didn't… if he didn't then they would know and it wouldn't just be Sherlock getting picked on it would be him too! John really shouldn't care that much about his reputation… but he did and Sherlock understood that… "No, I'm not going to do it… you ruined his book.. Just let him go, yeah?"

Brian laughed and then spat in Sherlock's face. "Nah, he needs to learn his place. Rainbows like him don't belong here."

Sherlock tried not to gag at the spit that was dripping into his eye. He swallowed and looked at John.

"Besides… If you don't hit him then we all know that you're dating him." Brian hummed.

"That's fucking ridiculous! I just don't want to hurt someone who was doing absolutely nothing!" John wouldn't look at Sherlock. He'd get angry at Brian and really that wouldn't be helping anyone.

Sherlock took a breath. He knew what John was thinking and it killed him. "No, you just don't want to be like your father. You don't want to abuse someone like he abuses you."

Brain watched as John swallowed hard. "Now you have a reason John! DO IT!" He screamed.

John shifted, but he would not punch Sherlock. He would not hurt him… not after what he said. "No. Just leave him alone."

"Trouble in paradise, huh? Too bad. If you won't do it I will. I'll beat the shit out of him… But then again if you were to do it you would beat the shit out of him… so I guess either way he's getting the shit beaten out of him."

John's eyes flicked to Sherlock's. He saw Sherlock give him a subtle nod. Sherlock was terrified, but if he was going to get hurt he would want John to do it. That's what Sherlock was saying. John barely registered that the rugby team was calling him a 'wuss' and a 'sissy'. He stepped forward and looked at Brian. He swallowed hard.

"You know, 'cause the thing is… I don't think you are fit to be head captain if you can't beat up a low life such as Mister Holmes."

John swallowed. Before he got to know Sherlock he felt the same way… he would do anything and everything to prove himself.. He just hoped Sherlock could forgive him. He stepped forward and punched Sherlock straight in the stomach. He watched as Sherlock yelped and coughed and slumped to the floor. He saw Brian blink because he didn't think John was going to do it. He saw the look of betrayal that flashed through Sherlock's eyes. He tackled Sherlock so they tumbled down the hill and far enough away so that the team could see, but couldn't hear.

Sherlock felt like someone had ripped his heart out and ate it. He knew John would do anything to protect his reputation, but he was hoping… deep down he was hoping that John wouldn't do it. He looked up at John after they had tumbled down the hill and he nodded as John said: "follow my lead." John threw punches and he yelped and pretended to get hit. John never hit him… not again.. He was smart in that sense… but his stomach was killing him, he wanted to throw up, and he was 91.143% sure that his left ribs were bruised.

After about two minutes John got off of Sherlock and pretended to kick him and Sherlock had taken his chances and had gotten up and ran. John felt awful, but at least now they were off his back. He went back up the hill and the rugby players cheered whilst clapping him on the back. He just wanted to go to Sherlock, but he couldn't. He sighed and watched as his friends laughed and went back to lunch.

~O~

Sherlock ran to the toilet. His body hurt so much, not just from the punch although that played a big part in it, but because he was also hurting at John's choice. He locked the door as soon as he got there and sunk down onto the floor as he cried into his knees. Weakness didn't really suit him, but alone, in closed room, he would allow himself to cry. He felt betrayed and bruised and broken. Slowly, he brought his shirt up and looked at his stomach. It was already starting to bruise and he knew that it was only going to get worse. His left ribs looked bruised too, and his wrists hurt from the tackle. He didn't think his wrist or any part of him was broken, but he was definitely bruised and sprained.

He turned the faucet and started to scrub his face with water. Brian's spit was dying on his face and it was disgusting. He looked in the mirror and saw that his hair was wild and his suit was a bit ripped. Mycroft would be asking questions. He wasn't about to tell him that it was John otherwise John wouldn't be allowed in the house. Suddenly, he didn't want to go to school anymore for today. Even though had three more classes to go to, the last of which being one with John… and Brian. No. He knew not going to class would let them win. Something he told John he refused to do, but at the same time he couldn't go and face John… not after that… he needed time.

Yes, John had avoided actually hitting him after they had tumbled down the hill, but he was screaming things. Awful things… and all because he wanted to make a show for his so called 'friends'. Sherlock growled to himself as he turned off the sink. No, he would go home. He would let them win. He needed time alone, time to think. And even though it made him livid and angry and he was so very stupid. He had already forgiven John. Sure, he was mad at him. He was madder than hell, but he had forgiven him and that's all that mattered.

~O~

John sat in class twirling his pencil around his finger, waiting for Sherlock to come through the door and take his seat in the middle of the classroom. The bell rang and Sherlock wasn't there and John knew that he wouldn't be making an appearance…. God, he felt like a prick, but he had to do it. He sighed and listened to the teacher, until someone poked him in the ribs. He jumped, but was able to keep quiet and looked at the culprit, which of course happened to be Brian. He sighed and turned his head to look at him. "Yes?"

"Looks like you finally broke the little twerp." He snickered, along with a few other of the rugby players. "I'm proud of you captain!" He exclaimed, as he clasped John on the back. "Out of all the times we have picked on the freak we have never been able to get him to miss school or class! Sorry about the whole boyfriend thing, but I had to give you motive… you're soft like that." He hummed and then went back to his work.

John was vibrating on this inside. He broke Sherlock.. He broke Sherlock.. _He_ broke Sherlock! He was feeling horrible, and guilty, and the worst part of all of this was that Sherlock's confession from last night kept playing over and over and over again in his mind. He couldn't stop it no matter how hard he wanted to. The clock ticked slowly on the wall and he just wanted this day to be over. He wanted to go to Sherlock and apologise because god, he was the biggest prick in the history of biggest pricks.

Eventually the bell ran and John stood up abruptly, he grabbed his bags and supplies and started walking out the door until he heard his name being called. He closed his eyes and sighed as he turned around. "Yes, Alex?"

"Oh.. I was just wondering if you could give me a few tips in practice today…"

Fuck. Practice… he had forgotten and he had skipped out on Friday. He couldn't miss it so that would mean Sherlock would have to wait. A fake smile crept onto John's lips and he nodded. "'course, mate." He watched as Alex's face beamed. That was one good thing about being captain.. He could help people and make them happy. He smiled and walked out of the room going to the locker room to get changed.

~O~

Practice was a killer. His body ached and he was all muddy. It didn't help that it had rained halfway through and the coach made them play on anyway. John was sweaty and he didn't smell too good, but he had to go to Sherlock, so he packed up his rugby bag and school bag and started running to Sherlock's house. He had already ran in rugby practice and he was so very tired, but he had to make things right between them. He slowed once he got to the front gate and started walking. He didn't want to be out of breath when he finally got to talk to Sherlock. Thankfully, the door was unlocked so he just opened it. He walked inside and saw that Sherlock was lying on the couch with some ice on his ribs. John swallowed back the guilt, walked into the room and sat on a chair across from him. "Hey… didn't see you in class today…" He whispered.

Sherlock didn't open his eyes. He didn't want to look at John's wet hair and sticky body. If he had he wouldn't be angry anymore and they wouldn't talk… which they really needed to do. "Hmm, I wonder why." Sherlock said sarcastically.

John swallowed because he really hated it when Sherlock used that tone with him. "Sherlock… I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to come out… I never wanted to hurt you, but—"

"I'm going to stop you because you just did what you were told to do and I had given you permission… however.. I really didn't think you would actually go through with it." He said sadly.

John was silent for a long moment before he finally spoke again. "How are you…" He whispered.

"Cakeman took me to the hospital… I refused to go, but the man is insufferable and forced me." He said with his eyes still closed. "I… you sprained both of my wrists and my ribs and stomach are bruised, but other than that I'm fine." He said flatly. "Now, go take a shower. You stink."

John felt awful because really he hadn't meant to hurt Sherlock at all and certainly not that bad. He swallowed and nodded and then went upstairs to shower. Showers were nice.. Showers helped him calm down… However this time he didn't think the shower was going to help him this time, but he did what Sherlock said because he at least owed him that…

The water washed over John and unlike before it didn't help at all. He stayed in there for a long while, not because he was trying to forget, but because he really didn't want to go back out there and face Sherlock. Eventually, he turned off the water and got out. He got dressed and walked out of his bathroom to find Sherlock lying on his bed.

"I've already forgiven you…. Because I love you, but that doesn't mean I'm not mad…" He whispered. "Come here…"

John did as he was asked and went to Sherlock. He lowered himself down so that he was lying next to the taller boy and smiled a little. The next thing he knew a weak fist was colliding with his stomach. If he was honest it didn't really hurt at all, but if that's what Sherlock needed then he would give it to him. He smiled and looked at Sherlock.

"There. Now we are even." He smiled up at John and then rolled over to cuddle with him. "Just don't do it again…." He whispered, so quietly he didn't know if John even heard him, but he must have because he felt John brush his hair out of his face and nod slowly.


	7. Chapter 7

Two weeks later things were finally settling back to normal. Sherlock wasn't really hurt anymore and John had been extra kind to him recently. It was funny really, because Sherlock wasn't even angry, but if John felt the need to pamper him than Sherlock wasn't one to argue. They still hadn't had sex yet, but that was all fine. John wasn't ready and secretly Sherlock didn't think he was either. He wanted that moment to be a special moment that both of them would remember forever. Call him a hopeless romantic if you must, but truthfully Sherlock was like a delicate flower that needed to be taken care of specially and somehow John knew just how to do that.

Sherlock was especially happy today because John had started to sit next to him again in the last class they had together. It was stupid, it really, truly was, but Sherlock felt whole with John around. They were busy scribbling notes back and forth together and not really paying attention when the bell shrilled. Sherlock grinned like a madman, because he had been waiting all day for the final bell to ring. He grabbed John's hand and tugged on him… until he remembered that he really wasn't supposed to do that so he dropped his hand and lowered his voice. "Come on… I want to go somewhere."

John laughed a bit. "Alright. Hold on, you.. I have to finish packing up my stuff." He smiled a bit as he put his pencils in his back pack and slung it around to his shoulder. "Ready! Where do you want to go?" Sherlock just grinned more, if that was even possible, and ran out of the classroom. John had suspected that Sherlock would have been tugging him if the circumstances were different… One day he would come clean, but sadly that day was not today. It hurt him in a way to know that Sherlock wanted something so bad of him and he just wasn't ready to give… He sighed and ran after the madman, because he would always run after him.

Eventually John caught up with Sherlock once they were well off of school grounds. He smiled and tried to catch his breath. "Slow down would you? I'm a thirty year old man, remember?!"

Sherlock bursted into giggles. "For a thirty year old man you're pretty out of shape." He snickered.

John frowned and nudged him in the arm. "Am not! Where are we going anyway?! Is it like that time in the arcade because I think if that happens again I will not hesitate to use my serial killer pow—"

"Oh relax, love! It's nothing like the arcade! I promised I would never do that again, remember?!" Sherlock smiled softly and slipped his hand into John's. He took off again, but this time he was holding onto John, because there was no one around and he liked running with John holding his hand.

They ran for about five minutes and finally Sherlock stopped and smiled up at a building. He looked back at John and grinned. "It's so old and dusty and rusty! It's a brilliant place!" He started climbing on the dumpster to reach the window.

"Sherlock! What are you doing! Get down!" John flailed. This place was really old and sketchy… It looked abandoned and he had no idea why Sherlock wanted to come here so badly…

"Come on, John! It's a crime scene! There's a body in there! If I can just climb through the window I can examine the body while the idiot police officers drink their tea!"

"Sherlock!" John whispered loudly. "You are going to fall and break your neck! Not to mention this is illegal! You could go to jail! I could go to jail! Let's just go home, yeah?"

Sherlock pouted and tried to reach the window, "John! I need a boost. Because I can't reach the stupid window! Plllleeeeeaaassseee! I've never been to a crime scene before! I can solve it! I know I can!"

John shifted and bit his bottom lip. This was wrong on so many levels… If they got caught it would go on their permanent record! They would go to jail! John's life would be ruined, but at the same time… he could not refuse a face like that… he groaned as he climbed onto the dumpster and bent down for Sherlock to climb on his shoulders. "And how am I supposed to get in, genius?!"

"I'll lift you!" He heaved himself up and fell through the window.

John heard a thud and winced. "Babe! Are you alright?" He looked up and saw Sherlock pop his head out of the window. He smiled in relief.

Sherlock's heart swelled at the fact that John had called him 'babe' even though he really wasn't one for pet names… but he liked it when John did it. He smiled and held his hands down for John to grab. "Yes, I'm fine." He smiled brightly and heaved John up through the window.

"Well.. That was an adventure.." John said sarcastically as he jumped to the ground and brushed off the dust that had gathered on his clothes.

"Yes! And the fun hasn't even started yet!" He flailed and then ran off to another room.

John sighed and ran after him. He entered a room where Sherlock was crouched next to the dead body. John looked around for the officers, but Sherlock was right… they weren't here because they probably were having their tea break… He watched as Sherlock moved around the body with fascination. John had to smirk to himself because Sherlock literally looked like a child in a candy shop. "Get anything?"

Sherlock was silent for a long time. He grabbed the woman's hand and smirked to himself. Slowly, he lifted up the woman's shirt. He grinned even brighter and put the shirt back down just as slowly. "Yes. This was actually really easy and I seriously don't understand why they haven't figured it out yet." He smiled up at John and opened his mouth to speak again when he felt hands on his biceps yanking him back.

"What do you think you're doing here!" a nasally voice, sneered.

John swallowed and looked at the other boy.. He couldn't have been older than him and Sherlock. "We didn't mean any harm I promise… He was just looking…"

"You're all idiots! I figured it out while you were drinking _tea_." He growled and yanked away. "It was the husband! What's your name?!"

"Anderson." He glared at Sherlock. "And it wasn't the husband it was her son!"

"Anderson." Sherlock said calmly. "I'm going to be nice because you look like an idiot. I don't even know what _you_ are doing here because you're about my age, but it was the husband so I suggest you go and arrest him immediately!"

Anderson just blinked at him and then growled. "You're a freak! What kind of person likes to look at dead bodies anyway?!" he yelled

"Well I could ask you the same exact question… tell me does your girlfriend know you are cheating on her?"

Anderson was about to open his mouth when more officers walked into the room. They ran towards Sherlock and John and grabbed both of them. "Who let you into this crime scene?" one of the officers asked.

"Well we let ourselves in.. however! I solved the case so really you should be thanking me. It was the husband..Now like I told Anderson you should probably go arrest him!"

"You're just a kid! You don't know anything! It was the son! He got angry because she had taken away his phone and car."

Sherlock just blinked. Really he thought officers would be a lot smarter than this, but apparently he was wrong. "Well if you would just let me explain I can prove to you that it was the—"

"You're not explaining anything! You can tell me nothing that is actually worth listening to! You don't know anything and frankly I don't even know how you got in here! But you are leaving now and you should be very grateful that we aren't arresting the two of you."

Sherlock thrashed and the officer just picked him up. He was very big and Sherlock was a twig. John sighed and was guided out after Sherlock. He didn't fight so he didn't get picked up. However, he watched as the officer practically threw Sherlock on the ground once they passed the police tape. He ran to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay..?" He whispered.

"Fuck off." He growled.

He didn't mean it.. John knew he didn't mean it.. Sherlock was just angry and he wasn't good at worrying about other people's feelings when he was feeling too many of his own. So John did what any boyfriend would do… he remained silent, but he didn't leave because he would never leave Sherlock, especially not when he was hurting.

~O~

The whole way home was filled with tense silence. Sherlock was angrier than John had ever seen and it hurt him… It hurt him so much because just hours before Sherlock couldn't have been happier. "So Sherlock… I'm going to go for a walk… will you be alright by yourself for a little while?" He swallowed. He knew he was leaving Sherlock at a bad time… at a really bad time, but he was hoping he could find a way to make it better…

"Really? Really?! Fine… whatever go.. I don't care." He growled and walked inside. He secretly hoped John would run to him and wrap his arms around him and tell him everything was going to be okay, but when he heard the footsteps running away he knew that that wasn't going to be the case… He went inside and sulked on the couch.

Mycroft walked in the room and did a double take. "You look like hell… what happened?"

Sherlock sighed. "Cakeman.. Not even you and your brilliantness can fix this." Sherlock and Mycroft were close. They had become even closer with John in their lives. He would never admit this, but he looked up to his brother a lot. Maybe one day he would be ready to tell him, but today was not that day.

"And what did you do that my brilliance wouldn't be able to fix?" He sat down next to Sherlock and then wrapped his arms around his little brother.

Sherlock sniffled a bit and leaned into his brother. He looked incredibly young… but then of course he was young… even if he didn't act like it at times. "I snuck into a crime scene today and told them who it was and they just laughed at me! And now… now when I need him most John left!"

Mycroft sighed and ran his fingers through Sherlock's hair. "I'm sure he has his reasons little brother."

"Well they're stupid reasons! I wish he wasn't so selfish sometimes!" he growled and punched Mycroft weakly in the leg

"It was him wasn't it…?" Mycroft asked after a long moment.

Sherlock swallowed hard. "What was him..?" He knew what Mycroft was talking about… of course he did… he was not a stupid boy, but he just hoped Mycroft would drop it.

"Sherlock… don't make me say it… two weeks ago.. You wouldn't tell me… It was him wasn't it.. He hit you."

Sherlock drew in a sharp breath and stared at the wall as Mycroft held him. "He didn't have a choice…. Please… don't kick him out."

Mycroft drew a long slow breath. "Sherlock… You don't give me enough credit… I can see how happy he makes you.. I can see how much you need him.. I can see how much he's helping… Hell I wouldn't kick him out even if he killed our father."

Sherlock growled. "I wouldn't even mind that! I hate father!"

"Sherlock! Father isn't _that_ bad and you know it… Now I know we don't see eye to eye, but he's your father and you should treat him with respect."

Sherlock frowned more. "You just like him because he treats you with respect! He looks at me like I'm a fuck up and a freak! Just like everybody else and he's rude to Mummy! I refuse to show someone kindness that acts like that."

"Father is a good man… He just loses sight of that sometimes…"

Sherlock had enough of this. It was dark and John still wasn't back. Sherlock hated his father more than anything in this world and Mycroft was telling him to treat him with respect. He untangled himself from Mycroft's grip and walked up to his and John's room.

~O~

John snuck into the room later that night. Sherlock was probably up because he never seemed to sleep, but when he opened the door he realised that he was wrong and that Sherlock was already fast asleep in bed. He sighed, but it was all okay because it was meant to be a surprise. He just hoped he made the right decision…

~O~

Sherlock groaned when he heard the annoying buzzing coming from the side of his table. School… He reached his hand over and turned off the alarm clock and then took a deep breath to try and get the sleep out of his eyes. He turned over to see a John sprawled out on top of the bed. That was odd.. Normally he was a light sleeper, but he didn't even hear John come in last night. He shrugged it off and blamed it on the fact that Mycroft had pissed him off last night. Stupid Mycroft. Sherlock climbed out of bed and started to get ready for school. He would let John sleep a few minutes longer because John practically took three seconds to get ready… While Sherlock took ages because of his untamable hair!

Eventually Sherlock nudged on John. He would have kissed his head like he usually did, but Sherlock was a little fussy with him. When he saw John stir he smiled a bit and waited for him to open his eyes.. Or eye. "Hey.. We have to leave in ten minutes… I set your clothes on the bed for you… get dressed and I'll be downstairs." He smiled a walked away, without waiting for a reply from John.

John sighed and got up and out of bed. He took a short shower and then went out and looked at the clothes Sherlock had set out for him. He smiled because it was a black and white striped jumper. John had a suspicion that Sherlock was in love with that jumper and that was all fine with John. He got dressed and then came down the stairs, grinning. "So Sherlock! Later today I have a surprise for you… umm hopefully! I probably shouldn't have even told you because it might not happen, but I'm just so excited!" He grinned and hugged him.

"Oh, is it your coming out party to the school and it might not happen because you will, most likely, chicken out." He drawled and pulled away from John's grip to put his shoes on.

John swallowed, hard. "No… look.. I'm sorry I left you last night.. I probably left you when you really needed me.." He heard Sherlock hum. "But I promise… that it will be alright… Okay..?"

"I'm sure it will, John." He forced a smile and then stood up and walked out of the door.

"He'll come around… I may or may not have pissed him off last night. He's just taking it out on you because I just ignore him when he's a prick." Mycroft assured.

John sighed and nodded. "Let's hope.." He ran after Sherlock.

~O~

John waited all day.. He was shaky and nervous and he felt like he was going to throw up… He had never done something so… so dangerous before! It wasn't even that dangerous in all honesty, but if he was wrong… Then it would be. At lunch it happened. He received a phone call and he practically screamed at the top of his lungs when he hung up. He ran to the grass and started doing cartwheels and flips and he would probably break his neck, but he was honestly too fucking excited to even care.

Sherlock blinked from his tree as he watched John. He was confused and nothing made sense and he didn't know why John was so shaky… he was practically vibrating and screaming and he wished more than anything that he could go up and ask the blond headed boy what had just happened, but he couldn't. So he stayed by his tree and watched John with fascination.

~O~

The bell shrilled and John jumped up. "Come on! We're going to be late!" he ran out of the room and Sherlock was left blinking. He grabbed his stuff and ran after John.

"John! Slow down! I don't even know where we are going!" He flailed and to be truthfully honest he was still angry with John.

"You'll see!" He screeched and then took a blindfold out of his bag because he was prepared! He started tying it on Sherlock's head and was very surprised when Sherlock had let him.

"John, really I'm not in the mood for childish games. Take this off of me right now." He groaned as John started spinning him in a circle.

"Nope! I Promise! This is going to make everything all better… EVERYTHING!" He started pushing Sherlock gently and nudging him in the direction that he wanted him to walk.

Sherlock groaned, "Yeah, I'm sure." He mumbled under his breath. Honestly nothing could fix the mood he was in. He didn't even know why he was so angry… Maybe it was because he thought the police would have taken him seriously and when they didn't John just ditched him and was gone for hours! He followed John and eventually they reached a building. "Can I take this off now?!"

"No! Don't! It will ruin it! You can't take it off until the very last second!" He flailed and grabbed Sherlock's hand. He pulled him through the doors and they went in an elevator. John couldn't help, but laugh at Sherlock's annoyance because he knew that Sherlock wouldn't be annoyed for much longer. The doors dinged opened and John guided Sherlock out of the elevator. He walked for a few seconds and then stopped. "Alright. I'm going to take the blindfold off now." He smiled brightly and took off Sherlock's blindfold.

Sherlock blinked as he looked around the room. "I-… I don't understand…" He frowned. "John we shouldn't be here… we're just going to get into more trouble!" He flailed.

"No, you're not." A soft voice said from behind the two boys. "You're here because your boyfriend told me a few things and then I invited you."

Sherlock blinked. "I- I don't understand.." John had talked to this man? And not only that, but he had said that they were dating… He looked at the man who turned out to be the current Detective Inspector.

The Detective held out his hand and smiled warmly. "Detective Inspector Garrett."

Sherlock swallowed hard. He knew who the man was.. He kept up with everything because it was what he liked to do… He was sort of obsessed in a way. "I know…" he whispered and shook the Inspectors hand."Sherlock Holmes.." He swallowed. He really couldn't believe this was happening and John was just grinning like an idiot beside him.

"Oh I know who you are Mr. Holmes." The DI replied with a smirk on his face. "Why don't we step into my office, yeah?"

Sherlock nodded and slowly followed him into his office. He sat down next to John as the DI sat down across from them. The only thing between them was a desk. Sherlock watched as the DI slipped him an envelope. Sherlock didn't understand.. But then again he wasn't understanding a lot of things at the moment. He slowly opened it and inside was a cheque for £500. "What's this for...?"

The DI blinked and looked at John, "You didn't tell him?"

John shook his head slowly. "No, I wanted it to be a surprise…"

The DI smiled and looked at Sherlock. "Yesterday night John here came to me. I tried to get him to go away, but he was very insistent. I told him I didn't have time for his childish games and he begged me to give him just ten minutes… so I did.. He told me about the crime scene and about what had happened and then he told me to question the husband. When I told him that that case was already closed and they had taken the son into custody he begged me to reopen it.. Just to talk to the husband and interrogate him more than we did. I told him that wasn't possible, but he has a lot of faith in you… He said that if he was wrong then he would take the blame and that we could throw him in jail for a couple of days because he wasted our time.. So I thought to myself 'a young boy like this.. With such a brilliant future ahead of him was willing to risk it all away because he had such faith in this Sherlock Holmes character.' So I agreed and I'll be damned. After five minutes he confessed to killing his wife. He found out she was cheating on him with another man and he lost it and then tried to blame the son…. You're a brilliant man Sherlock Holmes… It would be an honour if you were to work with us one day."

Sherlock swallowed thickly and looked at John. "This- this is where you went last night…."

"You were hurting Sherlock… You found out something that was really important to you and I watched as they laughed in your face…. I knew you were right because you're always right.. And there was no way in hell I was not going to do anything about it." He smiled a bit and reached over to grab his hand.

Sherlock was at a loss of words.. He didn't know what to say other than the fact that John was probably the best boyfriend in the world and no one would convince him otherwise. He swallowed again because his emotions were trying to crawl up his throat and spill over. There were so many of them.. He felt guilty for doubting John… He felt overwhelmed that he had solved a case… his first case! And they believed him! They were taking him seriously and he even got paid. He was just feeling so much that it was almost too much, but he would be professional in from of the DI. Sherlock cleared his throat a bit and smiled. "Thank you… for listening to John.."

The DI smiled back. "No, thank _you_ for solving the case." He smirked and then shook Sherlock's hand again. "Tell you what… if we are ever stumped we'll give you a call." He smiled and then stood up and patted Sherlock's back. "Now run along home. You're parents are probably worried."

Normally Sherlock would have corrected him… Told him his parents didn't care and weren't ever around. But not today… No today was special… He took John's hand and smiled. "Thank you, sir." And with that the two young boys walked out of Scotland Yard.

~O~

Once out of Scotland Yard Sherlock took John's hand and ran all the way home. He wasn't about to stop not when something so brilliant happened. He slammed the door open and ran up the steps, not bothering to shut the front door. All the while he was holding onto John's hand so that he couldn't escape! That did sound a little creepy in Sherlock's head, but he needed John alone and he needed him alone now. He finally, finally, got to their room and opened the door and then slammed it as he pushed John against the wall. "That thing you did…" He whispered against John's neck. "That was good." He leaned in and kissed John's throat heatedly.

John swallowed and arched his neck again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going… I wanted it to be a surprise and I wanted to make you happy.." He whispered and then the next thing he knew he was being pulled away from the wall and dragged to the bed. Sherlock pushed him on it and then he was crawling on top of John.

Sherlock leaned down and kissed John's lips softly. His whole body was telling him to go fast, but he wanted to go slow. "I love you.. I love you. I love you. I love you." He smiled and started taking off John's jumper, carefully. He was in love with this jumper and he wasn't about to ruin it! "And tonight I want you." He whispered as he kissed John's collarbone.

John drew in a sharp breath as his mouth went dry. He nodded slowly and reached his hands up to start undoing Sherlock's shirt, but he batted his hands away.

"No, my love. This is all about you.. It's my surprise to you.. Just lay there." He whispered and started to take off his shirt slowly. He was already rock hard and his erection was straining against his trousers. He could barley even get home fast enough. He got his shirt off and watched as John licked his lips. Sure, they had seen each other naked, but this was different. This meant something… this meant everything. Not that any of the other times didn't mean anything, but they both knew that this was different… This was their first time and it was going to be magical. It was going to be about forgiveness, love, an apology. It meant everything.

John lifted his body up and put his hands on the button of Sherlock's trousers. He slowly undid them and pulled them down. He did leave Sherlock's pants on though, because he wanted this moment to last.. Just like Sherlock. John reached for his own trousers, but was stopped by Sherlock's hands. Soon John's trousers were discarded as well and they were both kneeling on the bed in their pants. "Lie down.." John whispered softly as he gently pushed Sherlock to a laying position.

John kissed from Sherlock's jaw all the way down to the waistband of his pants. He smiled up at Sherlock and then pulled them off, slowly. John took off his own pants and then got between Sherlock's legs. "Are you sure this is what you want…" He whispered.

Sherlock nodded slowly. "Yes, you gave me something so amazing words can't describe what it meant to me… so now I'm giving you this.. I want to give you this… John I need you.."

John swallowed hard and nodded. "Of course… Anything…. Do you umm.. Do you have lube and condoms…?"

"Yes, nightstand… I didn't know when the time would come, but I bought some because I wanted to be prepared." He whispered as he watched John reach over to grab the items needed.

John poured the lube into his hand and then rubbed them back and forth to warm it up. "I've never done this before… so sorry if I'm rubbish.." He said softly and then gently pushed a finger into Sherlock.

It was way too fast! Granted, John did do it gently, but he didn't do it slowly. Sherlock winced, "John! Slower please!"

John jumped and stopped moving his finger. "Sorry! Sorry!" he waited awhile and then slowly started to push into Sherlock. He watched Sherlock's facial expressions to make sure he wasn't hurting him.. But he seemed to be going slow enough now because Sherlock moaned and arched his back off the bed. John waited a while and then added a second finger.

It was much too soon… really very much too soon! "Patience really is a virtue, John!" He gasped and then squeezed his eyes shut. He heard John swear and apologise, but he didn't take out, which secretly Sherlock was grateful… he just stopped moving and waited for Sherlock to get used to it.

John sat there with two fingers inside of Sherlock waiting for him to say he could move again. Eventually he saw Sherlock nod slowly and he continued with two until he added three, but this time Sherlock didn't wince and he didn't groan out of pain so John assumed that he was alright and kept going.

Sherlock was a moaning mess. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was a slight burn, but it was also so wonderful and so magical. He practically screamed when John hit the right spot. "Do that again!" He said enthusiastically. And just like he asked John had did it again, and again, and again. Because John knew how to please him and would always know how to please him. He would never leave John… he would stay with John for as long as John would have him because he loved this boy so much. He felt as John pulled out his fingers and then watched as he rolled a condom onto his erection.

John was nervous and he was fumbling with the stupid plastic condom! Finally he got it on and lined himself up with Sherlock. "Like this…?"

Sherlock thought of a thousand different ways, more intimate ways… that they could do it, but John was inexperienced so those positions were for a later time. He nodded slowly and then John pushed inside of him. It stung… It stung a lot, but he was a trooper and squeezed his hands into the bed sheets.

John moaned loudly as Sherlock's tightness surrounded him. He wasn't even paying attention to Sherlock's face so he had no idea if he was hurting him… all he knew was that he really couldn't stop even if he wanted to. It felt so good and he could barely think! His brain felt all fuzzy and this was really so much better than his left hand or rutting up against Sherlock. However rutting was nice too. He finally got all the way inside and stopped to take a few breaths. John really didn't want to come already because that would be the most embarrassing thing in the history of embarrassing things. He also wanted this to last.

Sherlock waited patiently for John to move… when he didn't Sherlock got a bit frustrated because he _needed_ John right this second or he was going to implode! "John.. I really need you to move, please.." He groaned and rolled his hips.

"Right! Sorry!" he gasped and started moving. Slowly at first and then eventually he was practically pounding into Sherlock and screaming from pleasure.

Sherlock didn't mind. John kept hitting the right spot and it felt so good. He could feel the pleasure building and building until he was coming all over his chest and it felt like he was falling and he may have been making noises, but he honestly couldn't even tell anymore.

Sherlock's muscles clenched around John and he lost it. He screamed Sherlock's name as he came deep inside of him. He kept moving back and forth riding out his orgasm until he collapsed on top of Sherlock and drew in gulps of breath because he felt like he had just run a marathon.

Sherlock smiled a bit and gently pushed John aside to that he fell into the mattress. Sherlock reached on the floor and grabbed the towel that John had used earlier that morning to wipe his and John's stomach off.

John hummed and closed his eyes. "I love it when you do that…" He whispered.

"Do what?" Sherlock asked softly as he cuddled to John's side and pulled the blankets around them.

"Clean me off… I just feel like it's so against your nature… but here you are doing it.." He smiled happily and held Sherlock close to him.

"I just don't want you to be sticky…" He whispered back.

"I know Sherlock…" He smiled to himself and kissed the top of his head. "I know."


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning John awoke to the door slamming shut. He gasped, woke up abruptly and then fell out of the bed. He groaned and then blinked rapidly multiple times to try and get the sleep out of his eyes. "What is it? What's happening!"

Sherlock started grumbling to himself and throwing things around the room. "You're going to go away for a little while and come back when I text you! Do you understand, John?"

John frowned and stood up. He pulled some pants and a shirt on and then walked over to Sherlock. "Hey… Talk to me.. What is it.."

"Nothing! You are going to do as I say!" he growled and started to push John out of the room.

"Sherlock! I'm in my pants! Don't push me out… Talk to me.." He took his hand in his and held it.

Sherlock swallowed and looked down. "My father is coming and if he sees you.. He will want to meet you.." He whispered.

"I would love to meet your father!" He smiled softly. "I want to know everything about you.. And besides…. He can't be worse than my father.."

Sherlock shook his head. "He's rude and I hate him! I don't want him to meet you! He'll say you aren't good enough."

"Wanna know something?! I couldn't give two shits about what your father thinks!" He smiled and kissed his forehead. "We're in this together."

Sherlock sighed. There was no point in arguing with John. "Alright.. but, you'll have to put this on…" He handed John an expensive suit.

"Alright. I'm going to go shower." He hummed then smirked. "Care to join me?"

Sherlock smiled brightly and nodded slowly. John always could make him forget about the bad stuff. Even if just for a second.

~O~

John got ready in the suit and put on the dress shoes. He was happy because Sherlock had just practically worshiped his body in the shower. He fixed his hair so that there were no flyaway's and made himself look very presentable. He looked at Sherlock, who was already ready, and smiled slightly. "So…"

Sherlock grinned and walked over to him. He reached out and adjusted John's tie. "You look very handsome." He said softly. "Let's go.. My father should be here any minute and my mother has just arrived." He smiled brightly.

~O~

John stood next to Sherlock with his hands clasped behind his back. It was so formal. Mycroft, Lily Holmes, John, and Sherlock were all standing in a line waiting to greet Sherlock's dad… They stood there for about five minutes before the front door swung opened and a tall muscular man with slicked back hair and a three piece suit entered the room. He looked at the line of people waiting by the door and gave a slight nod. "Family." He hummed, but just the way he said it made John cringe on the inside… Suddenly his piercing eyes were on John and he frowned. "And who's this?"

Sherlock smiled happily and stepped forward a bit. "This, Father, is my boyfriend John."

Sherlock's father eyed John up and down and then looked at Sherlock. "I knew you were a poof. Oh well nothing I can do about it." He sighed. "Although you could have chosen somebody less…" He paused trying to find the right word to say. "Financially challenged..."

"Sigar!" Lily Holmes gasped as she watched her youngest son deflate.

Sigar's eyes snapped to his wife. "Yes..?" He said innocently like nothing had even happened.

She just gave him a look that basically said 'not another word or so help me…' Expect Sigar was never really intimidated by his wife and he knew that his wife wouldn't do anything even if he did say another word. So he simply nodded and gave a fake smile. "Well.. I'm famished! Shall we eat?"

Mycroft nodded and led the way to the dining room. They all sat in their assigned seating: Sigar and Lily at each end of the table, John and Sherlock on the left side, and Mycroft by himself on the right. One of the butlers brought out a bowl of soup as a starter. John smiled and ate it happily. The food was so amazing! "This is absolutely wonderful! Who made this evenings meal?" He hummed.

Lily perked up and smiled at John lovingly. "Oh I did, dear! I'm glad you enjoy it!" They all heard Sigar scoff in the background, but all of them chose to ignore it. John wasn't about to yell at a man that he was trying to impress.

They ate the salad next and soon the main course came out. It seemed to be some sort of fancy salmon dish. John couldn't really tell, but when he took a bite his mouth flooded with all sorts of flavours and it was one of the best things he's ever tasted in his whole life. He was about to make a comment, but Sigar beat him to it…

"I'm really disappointed Lily. This meal has been extremely boring and frankly it wasn't that good. The soup was cold, the salad was mushy, and salmon is over cooked." He gave a look of disgust and pushed his plate away. "But then again… You never really could cook. I don't even get why you even try anymore."

John stared at him opened mouthed. He was completely and utterly shocked. He thought that everything was fantastic. Apparently he was staring and Sigar didn't like that very much.

"Really Sherlock… You picked a defect. Tell me John.. Did you lose brain cells for every time your father beat you? I've met your father, you know.. He's a lovely man and I'm sure that every beating he gave you was well deserved so basically you did that to yourself."

John snapped his mouth shut and swallowed. He would not get angry… besides it didn't really bother him when the remarks were directed at him. It was easier to handle, but he had to refrain from snapping when he was speaking so rudely to Lily… "I probably did, sir…" He said quietly. Maybe if he just agreed and didn't give Sigar a reaction he would stop.

Sherlock cleared his throat awkwardly and rested his hand on John's knee. "Father, I'm trying really hard. Stop talking to my partner like that."

Sigar laughed and leaned back in his chair. "Oh right. I sort of forgot about you. How are you doing, Sherlock..?" He hummed.

Sherlock blinked and raised an eyebrow. Surely this had to be going somewhere…. "Umm I'm fine.. Thank you?"

Sigar hummed. "Mmm, so no more suicide attempts? Pity. Because you see." He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table as he put his hands in front of his chin. "I rather think you're a waste of space. You aren't anything like Mycroft.. And you won't ever be anything like Mycroft. You won't succeed in anything in life because you're a fuck up. A mistake. Fucking condom didn't work on your mother here. It broke. No one wanted you Sherlock. You're unwanted."

Lily gasped and looked down. Yes, Sherlock was a mistake… they didn't want any more kids after Mycroft, but that didn't mean that Lily didn't love her youngest son very much. However, she remained quiet because that's just what they did…

Sherlock looked down and nodded. "Yes, I know…" He whispered.

John wanted to scream. Why were they just sitting back and letting this happen. It wasn't right! But it also wasn't his place to do anything so he closed his eyes and counted to ten.

Sigar's eyes widened. "Oh, you know? Tell me, Sherlock, when did she tell you? Did she tell you how I begged her to get an abortion? But your mother here isn't one to kill someone and apparently you were considered a life. Frankly I think you're a piece of worthless—"

"You're just angry because one of your mistresses left you. The one in Paris might I add and that happened to be your favourite one. So don't go taking it out on me!" Sherlock mumbled while looking down. John knew that Sherlock could have fought back more if he wanted to, but at least he wasn't sitting back and taking it…

Sigar glared at him. "I'm going to let that slide because frankly I don't care what you think. Lily, come on we're going to go upstairs to have sex." He hummed and started to stand up.

John looked over and saw Lily swallow. Clearly she was not comfortable with the idea and before John even knew what was happening he stood up abruptly, knocking his chair back. "Excuse you! I am not going to let you sit here and degrade my boyfriend and then have you go and rape your wife! Frankly, I think you're a disgusting man and I have no idea why they even put up with you! The meal that Lily made for us was fucking fantastic! You sicken me and I have no idea why your family puts up with it? Is it because you're a powerful man? Probably, but guess what fucking hot shot I have absolutely nothing to lose! You're a rude, arrogant, fucker and I think you should apologise and then leave and never fucking come back!"

Sigar's jaw was clenched and for a second John thought he was about to get hit, but he didn't care because this man couldn't possibly do anything that his father hadn't done already. "Out!" Sigar growled as he stood up. "You see. I was trying to be nice to you, John. But no one talks to me like that! You will leave and you will _never_ come back. Is that understood?"

John just laughed hysterically. "You can't do that! You're barely even home! I don't really think you have any authority over this house hold. I'm not leaving Sherlock and nothing that you threaten me with will make me leave! So you can SHOVE IT UP YOUR FUCKING ARSE AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS HOUSE!" It was silly really because this wasn't even John's house, but he considered Lily and Mycroft and Sherlock part of his family… He wasn't going to let this pig of a man push them around. Sigar stood up and grabbed a rather sharp dinner knife.

Sherlock gasped and stood up and dodged in front of John to protect him. "John.. He will not hesitate to throw the knife at you… and trust me when I say he never misses… go!"

John blinked. "No, Sherlock I'm not leaving you!" He growled.

"GO!" Sherlock screamed and pushed John. The look in Sherlock's eyes was painful to look at and he found himself listening to Sherlock. He nodded and ran out of the house.

Sherlock glared at his father. "I fucking hate you."

Sigar scoffed. "I'm your father you can't hate me!"

Sherlock started walking away. "Keep telling yourself that," He growled.

"Don't you dare go after him Sherlock! Or so help me I will not hesitate to—"

"IM GOING TO MY ROOM YOU FUCKER!" He screamed and ran up the stairs.

Mycroft cleared his throat awkwardly and Lily sat in her seat, shocked. She had never met a boy as wonderful as John.. Someone who took care of her son and made him happy. She didn't dare move because she was afraid of what Sigar would do…

~O~

John had no idea where to go. He could go back to his home because his dad wasn't there anymore, but he really didn't want to see his mother. He felt awful and he tried so hard to control his anger, but sometimes he blew up. He could be a hot head sometimes and that was always a bit of a problem… He groaned as it started to rain. He was wearing a nice suit and he had nothing else to change into.. It was getting late… He walked aimlessly until he ended up at school. He blinked and then figured it was better than nothing… He tried the front doors and side doors, but of course since it was a weekend and it was late they weren't going to be opened. He went to the gym and tried the door and was surprised to find that it opened. He quickly ran in and closed the door behind him.

He was soaking wet and the rain was chilling him to the bone. He looked around the gym and really didn't want to sleep on the door in plain sight. He went into the locker rooms and saw that one of the coach's office doors was opened. The lights were turned off so they had obviously left some time ago, but just didn't feel the need to shut the door. His feet carried him into the office and he looked around he sighed and then crawled under the desk. That way if someone came in he was at least hidden and could find a way to escape without being seen. He curled up in a ball and let sleep take over his exhausted body.

~O~

John awoke to the sounds of footsteps walking into the office. He must have overslept and he had no idea how the hell he was going to climb out from under the desk without being seen. Especially when the man that was walking into the office just sat down in the chair and started typing away on his computer. The desk was fairly big so John could hide under there easily without being kicked or seen. He was still in his suit and it hadn't dried from the rain. It had to a point, but it was still a little damp and he was chilled to the bone. He leaned against one of the walls of the desk. The desk was built so that from the outside it went all the way down to the floor so no one could see under it unless they were on the other side of it. And even then they had to bend down to look under.

John was hoping that the man would leave, but of course that was an unrealistic hope. He obviously just got in to work.. What would make him leave now? The fingers tapped steadily on the keys and before John knew what was happening he sneezed. He mentally cursed himself as he heard the fingers still and watched as the man pushed his feet on the ground so that his chair could roll back a little bit. John was dead. It was as simple as that. He was going to get into so much trouble for breaking into the school and sleeping under the desk. He sniffled and stayed under it.

"Come on out…." A soft voice whispered.

John blinked. The voice sounded so kind and not at all mad.. It also sounded friendly so John slowly came out from under the desk and looked at the man. He was older and had silver hair. There was stubble on his face and he had very kind, soft brown eyes. "Now, are you going to tell me why you're dressed up so nice and are hiding under my desk?" He asked softly as he sat back in his chair and gave John lots of room.

John shook his head slowly. He had never even seen this coach in his life… He wondered if maybe he only worked mornings…. It was still dark outside so it must have been pretty early.

"Coach Lestrade." He smiled happily. "I don't think we've ever met."

John shook his head again. He swallowed and looked at the kind man in front of him. "I'm John…" He said sadly.

Lestrade frowned. "Why do you seem so sad and why are you under my desk..? Not that I care, but it isn't the most comfortable place to be." John just stared at him sadly and didn't say anything. "Tell you what… How about I take you to breakfast and you can tell me all about what's troubling you… Or you don't have to, but what I _do_ know is that you need to eat." He said softly. Lestrade watched as John nodded slowly. He smiled brightly and stood up. "Well then come on!" He guided John out of his office and then they climbed into Coach Lestrade's car.

~O~

They sat down at Ed's Diner and ordered breakfast. John had eggs and toast with bacon, while Lestrade just had a coffee. He claimed to have already eaten before work. They talked for a while about nothing and then finally John felt comfortable enough to tell him everything… It felt so good to tell someone all of the things he was feeling. How his father kicked him out for being gay, how he got kicked out of Sherlock's house and how he had nowhere to go. He told Lestrade everything as he ate his breakfast and sipped his orange juice.

Lestrade eyed him carefully and then pursed his lips together. "Come live with me." He hummed. "You have nowhere to go and I am more than happy to lend you my house for the time being."

"Oh.. No... I couldn't intrude on you like that… I'm sorry, but I can't… I'll find somewhere else.." John said as he fiddled awkwardly with his fork.

"Nonsense! Just until you get back on your feet John. Come on! We can go right now." He smiled happily and paid for the bill.

"Wait… I should probably go and get my stuff from, Sherlock's… If you give me your address I can come right over.. I promise.."

Lestrade looked a bit hesitant, but then reluctantly agreed because John was taking him up on his offer. He gave him the address and then plastered a smile on his face. "Just be sure to hurry, yeah? I don't want anything to happen to you along the way…"

"I'll be fine." John smiled. "See you soon!" And with that he got up and left the diner.

~O~

John walked up to the Holmes mansion and swallowed. He went through the side door because he really didn't want to be seen… Not to mention if he was Sigar would not hesitate to kill him. He walked into his bedroom and started packing his bag. He was happy because he was in fact not seen. Halfway through packing the door creaked opened and John swallowed hard. He didn't know who it was, but he wasn't about to turn around to leave.

"You don't have to go…" Sherlock's voice said softly from behind him. "My mother finally stood up for herself and kicked him out yesterday… He won't be back, John…"

John blinked a few times like he was trying to see straight again. "Oh.. That's good I suppose.. What—I mean how.. How are you feeling?"

Sherlock blinked and raised an eyebrow. "John..?"

John snapped his eyes opened and made them go as wide as they could go. "YES!"

"Are you…" He pursed his lips together. "Are you drunk? Maybe.. Possibly..? I mean.. It's understandable with the whole situation.. But maybe you should lie down.."

John hummed. "No, I'm fine… I really should get going though. Someone's expecting me.. And they told me not to be late…" He whispered quietly and took a step, but stumbled. "Oh… my body feels funny…" He frowned.

Sherlock's eyes widened and he ran to John. "John! What's wrong?" He picked up John and slowly laid him down. He sat next to John and ran a hand over John's forehead.

"Nothing is wrong! But you should really tell cakeman to stop spinning the room around." He squeezed his eyes shut tight.

Sherlock frowned. "John.. The room isn't spinning and that really isn't possible in my house… Can I ask you some questions..?" He asked softly and grabbed John's wrist as he secretly measured John's pulse.

"Hey… hey you.. You, mister.. I need to leave! I'm going to be late… but you'll have to carry me because I can't move my body…"

Sherlock flailed. "What do you mean you can't move your body? You aren't going anywhere, John! You're going to stay right here with me.."

"My body… It just… It feels so, so heavy like a rock! But it also feels like I'm floating! Mmmm. Sherlock! Sherlock! Am I a bird?"

Sherlock blinked and frowned. "John… What did you take…."

John started crying. "I didn't take anything! Why are you so cruel! So, so mean! You're a meanie!" He sobbed.

"John! John! Calm down! I just need to know what you took so I can figure out how to help you… I'm not angry…" He spoke softly.

John screamed and tried to move, but his body felt like it was paralyzed. He felt so relaxed, but at the same time so heavy and he was confused. He didn't understand what was happening and Sherlock was yelling at him. Well Sherlock wasn't really yelling at him, but in John's little delusional mind he was. "MYCROFT!" John sobbed. "MYCROFT!" he tried to bat Sherlock away, but he wasn't even really moving.

Mycroft's eyes widened as he listened to the agonised sounds coming from upstairs. He got up abruptly and ran up the stairs. He thought his father was gone for good, but maybe he had snuck back in and had stumbled upon John! He pushed the door opened and blinked as he watched the screaming blonde lay still on the bed with the taller boy hunched over him trying to calm him down. "Sherlock! What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know! I just simply asked him what he had taken—" He was cut off by John's screaming, "And then he started crying and calling your name!"

"MYCROFT! HE'S A MEANIE! MAKE HIM STOP I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" He cried harder and wanted to get up and run away, but he couldn't move his body and why couldn't he move!

Mycroft blinked and looked at Sherlock. "See! He obviously took something because he isn't making any sense right now!" He heard his younger brother growl.

"Sherlock… Maybe John is telling the truth… Why don't you ask him what happened yesterday…? And while you are at it.. Give him some space.. Come stand over here next to me…"

Sherlock huffed and was about to argue, but Mycroft shot him a cold glare and so he quickly hopped off the bed and went to Mycroft's side. "So John… Why don't you tell me a story..?"

John sniffled and looked at him with black eyes. His pupils were blown so much that he could barely make out the dark blue that was just a thin line around the black. "What kind of story…" He whispered.

"How about the one where you tell me what you did after dinner yesterday!" Sherlock said with all the excitement he could muster.

"No! Only Mycroft can know! Mycroft has to ask me! Because Mycroft is so wonderful and nice!" John said stubbornly and Sherlock got the strange impression that John would have crossed his arms if he could.

"What! Mycroft that isn't fair! He's being mean! Why does he even want you! I'm his boy—"

"Sherlock! Enough! Whining isn't going to get us anywhere! Let's just give John what he wants and then he'll talk.. Also go my room and get the drug tester that's in my bottom drawer… I want to see what he's been taking so I know if we need to take more extreme measures…" He whispered so that John couldn't hear and then smiled at John and whispered softly, "Now.. Why don't you tell me the story of yesterday...?" Sherlock glared at Mycroft and then left the room to do as his older brother had asked of him.

"Well I woke up and then me and Sherlock had sex in the shower. It was so—"

Mycroft cleared his throat awkwardly. "How about you start at the part where you left the house.. Where did you go…?" If Mycroft wanted to find out any information he could about what happened to John and where he went. He knew he would have to be quick… Mycroft didn't know of the drug that John had been taking… or what was wrong with him for that matter…. But confusion was a common side effect in most drugs.

"Umm.. It was really wet.. So I went to a brick building… all of the doors were locked but then I used the other door and it was opened so I slept under a thing." John hummed

Mycroft resisted the urge to sigh. He started thinking of all the brick buildings where John could have snuck into that had a 'thing' in it that he could sleep under. Unfortunately, 'thing' could be meant as a lot of things. "What happened next..?" He needed more data.

"Umm, it was dark and scary and then a silver bunny came into the room!" John snickered.

Mycroft blinked and Sherlock groaned from the door. "A bunny? Cakeman! He has no idea what he's talking about! This is useless!"

"Shh!" Mycroft growled. "Just let him talk for a minute." He turned his attention back on John. "What happened next..?"

John was quiet as his eyes slowly started to close. He was so tired and the room was spinning and everything hurt.

"John." Mycroft cooed softly. "I need you to stay with me and then you can go to sleep." He said quietly as he put his hand on the boy's forehead.

"Cakeman… will you make the room stop spinning…" John asked in a bit of a slurred voice.

"I will as soon as you tell me what happened next…" He looked around the room and grabbed a pen. "Look I even have the controller to control the spinning right here, but you have to talk first."

Sherlock smacked his forehead. "Mycroft! This is getting us nowhere! Just give him the stupid drug test!" He hissed.

Mycroft gave him a glare to shut him up and then turned back to John who started talking again. "I was really scared because he was a powerful bunny and I didn't want him to catch me! But after a while I sneezed and he heard me and told me to come out." John snickered as he made his voice go unusually high at this next bit. "'I know you're under there! Come out!'" He went back to his normal voice. "The voice sounded so nice and so I came out and looked at the silver bunny! It told me that I shouldn't be sleeping under desks and then it wanted me to go eat with it! So I listened because it was such a nice bunny!" John gasped. "Cakeman! Maybe I can marry the bunny one day! It was soooo nice!"

Sherlock flailed. "No! Bad John! You're marrying me! Not some stupid arse bunny!" he growled.

Mycroft raised an eyebrow at his comment, but then just chose to ignore him. "You're getting sidetracked John.. Where did you and the bunny go to eat..?"

"Umm.. We went to have breakfast! He just had a drink and I had flowers and grass. It was so yummy Cakeman! You should try the flower and grass special!"

"You better not have eaten tulips!" Sherlock mumbled under his breath. He didn't even know why he was getting jealous! This wasn't even a real story after all! But apparently Mycroft thought it held some relevance.

"That sounds so lovely John.. I'll be sure to try it the next time I eat breakfast." He watched as John's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Was the bunny mean? Did it hurt you?"

John started crying. "No! The bunny was so nice! And I was supposed to meet it! I hurt the bunny's feelings! I never came back to him!"

Mycroft's eyes widened. "John… Did you have a drink with your flowers and grass?"

John tried to nod, but gave up. "Yes! I had pond water!" He hummed. "But halfway through the bunny spilled my pond water and so he had to go up and get me a new one… but he was just so nice! He kept saying how sorry he was—Cakeman… I'm sleepy.. Can I go to sleep?" John yawned and closed his eyes. "Night." He whispered.

Sherlock's eyes widened. So this was going somewhere… Mycroft gasped and put a hand on John's wrist. "Wait! John! What was the bunny's name! I need a name John! And then you can go to sleep. I Promise."

John whined softly. "Grant..? Gavin..? Oh!" he whispered. "Oh… the bunny's name was Greg Lestrade." He hummed. "He works for the bunny football team. They are very good you know."

Mycroft's eyes snapped to Sherlock. He nodded as he caught the kit that Sherlock had thrown at him. "Be safe, little brother." He whispered.

"I'll come back." Sherlock nodded. "Text me when you find out what he's been given.."

Mycroft nodded and then started the blood test as Sherlock ran out of the house to go find one Greg Lestrade.

~O~

Sherlock had contacted the police and gave them an address explaining everything. As much as he hated to admit it he couldn't do this on his own. He would beat them to the destination though seeing as he was closer. He felt his phone buzz and he quickly reached in and pulled it out.

_John has been given a drug called Rohypnol one of the most common date rape drugs… He's fine now… I gave him something to help clear it from his body and right now he's sleeping… _

_MH_

Sherlock growled and didn't text back. He started to run and soon he arrived at Lestrade's door. He pounded on it angrily.

It swung open and Lestrade blinked. "Hello… Sherlock is it? What can I do for you?"

Sherlock screamed and tackled him to the floor. "YOU TRIED TO RAPE MY BOYFRIEND!" Sherlock started hitting him, but Lestrade was a lot stronger and flipped them over, pinning Sherlock to the ground.

Lestrade straddled him and his nice act completely dropped. "You're right… I did. He had a nice arse and I just couldn't resist myself.. He never came back to me though… I figured that would happen.." Lestrade sighed as he looked at Sherlock.

"HE ISNT YOUR'S! HE'S MINE!" Sherlock screamed and tried to wiggle out from Lestrade's tight grip.

Lestrade laughed. "Oh, but he's not now is he? No, you kicked him out! He had nowhere to go so he confided in me… however… he didn't show up for our little adventure so I suppose that you will have to do." He smirked and started to unbutton Sherlock's shirt.

Sherlock froze. Never in his life has this happened to him… he didn't know what to do… He gasped as he felt cold fingers brush against his chest. "S-stop…" Sherlock swallowed. "I don't want this…."

"I think that's rather the point…" Lestrade snickered.


	9. Chapter 9

**UGGGHHHH I AM SO SORRY THAT TOOK SO LONG! MY LIFE HAS BEEN HELLA HECTIC SO APOLOGIES! NOWWWW LETS GET ON WITH THE STORY SHALL WE?**

_"I think that's rather the point…" Lestrade snickered._

Sherlock swallowed hard and tried to wiggle away, but Lestrade just pinned him harder to the point where it hurt his wrists. He watched with horror as Lestrade grabbed his wrist and pulled them together above his head so that he could grab them with one hand while continuing with the buttons on his shirt with his other hand. Sherlock started thrashing. With each button that he opened made the situation become more and more real.

Lestrade hummed and then gave a low chuckle. "I just love it when they squirm around."

Sherlock's eyes widened. "You've- YOU'VE DONE THIS BEFORE!" he screamed. He really should have stayed calm.. But he had never been so scared in his whole life.

"Of course I have. " He said as he finally got Sherlock's shirt all the way opened. "You aren't really my type… too skinny, but I suppose since your lover didn't show up you'll have to do." He ran his fingers all along Sherlock's chest.

Sherlock's breathing was erratic. Him and John had only done this once… He was practically a virgin! Of course he wasn't… but the chances of Lestrade preparing him were next to nothing. Sherlock started calculating everything in his head and it really wasn't helping. He closed his eyes as Lestrade started on the buttons of his trousers. He was on the verge of tears, but he wasn't going to let this disgusting man see him cry.

Sherlock snapped his eyes opened when he heard commotion in the room and felt as the heavy weight that was on top of him left. He sat up abruptly and scrambled to get his shirt back on. He was heaving in breaths and watching as a police officer was wrestling with Lestrade and putting hand cuffs on him.

He closed his eyes and slowly buttoned up his shirt with shaking hands when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. He jolted a little thinking it was Lestrade again.

"Sorry! Sorry! I should know better.." A soft voice whispered and pulled his hand back.

Sherlock recognized the voice instantly, DI Garrett. He turned around quickly and ran into his arms, hugging him. He had only met the man once, but he needed comfort right now.

The DI wrapped his arms tightly around Sherlock and held him close. "Shh.." He whispered to the shaking boy. "It's over now.. You caught him.. You're so brilliant." He hummed. He was trying to help Sherlock the only way he knew how really… and that was praising him… He was just a boy, but damn he was brilliant.

Sherlock nodded and then pulled away and smiled up at him. "Thank you…" He whispered. "He won't be able to get out, will he…?"

"No.. No Sherlock, he won't.. We've been trying to catch this bastard for months. Here, let me take you home. They can handle the rest." He smiled lightly and guided Sherlock out of the house and into his car.

Sherlock looked out the window as the DI drove to his house and then stopped. "I'll call you if we need help with anything, Sherlock. Now get out of here and go be with John." He smiled softly.

Sherlock nodded and thanked him before getting out of the car and going into the house and to John. He climbed in bed and hugged John close to him and eventually drifted to sleep.

~O~

Sherlock woke up gasping and panting for breath. He swallowed hard and looked at the clock. It was only 3:07 AM… He was covered in a layer of sweat and he knew he wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon. Replaying the nightmare in his head it really shouldn't have been as terrifying as his body made it out to be. There were just thousands of bunnies everywhere and they were running him down. They were going to get him and instead of a regular bunny face they had Lestrade's crazy manic face on them. God, what had John done to him? He didn't care though… Lestrade was taken in and he wouldn't be able to come out.

Sherlock slowly sank down into the bed again and held John in his arms. He ran his fingers through John's hair and kissed his shoulder. He laid there for a while longer before he finally fell asleep again. Just John's presence alone was able to comfort him.

A couple of hours later John woke up and tried to get out of bed, but then fell back immediately and groaned. His whole body felt achy and his head hurt so much. He tried to think back to why he was hurting, but he couldn't remember anything really. He tried to climb back onto the bed to reach Sherlock, but just ended up groaning some more. "Sherlock… Sherlock! Wake up…"

Sherlock woke up abruptly and jumped out of bed. He had an irrational fear that Lestrade had taken John again… and John wasn't in the bed… and he just woke up so he was a wee bit disoriented. "John!" He flailed and started running out of the door.

John blinked from the floor. "Where are you going..?"

Sherlock blinked at the door and then turned around slowly. "Oh… You're on the floor… umm why?"

"Because I thought it would be much comfier than the bed!" John rolled his eyes.

Sherlock blinked again. "Well John.. That's silly… Obviously the floor is just going to give you a back ache and—"

"I was joking!" John groaned. "Would you mind explaining to me what happened…"

"Well umm… What is the last thing you remember..?" He said as he walked over to the bed and sat down.

John closed his eyes as he laid on the floor. "I was at a diner I think… I don't remember.. And then I remember coming here for clothes, but it's all a bit of a blur after that.."

"Ok.. Well I'll just do a little recap.. Umm my father kicked you out.. He's gone now.. My mother left him so you don't need to worry about that. Then you left… You told Mycroft you went somewhere.. I deduced the school because you said something about a brick building and then that whole thing with Lestrade.. So then I think Lestrade may have taken you to a diner where he then drugged you with Rohypnol in order to take you back to his place where he could then rape you. However! You came here first and I was able to stop you… I realised something was wrong so I made you stay… After a really weird story about bunnies and plates we found out that the person that drugged you was Lestrade so I went over there and almost got raped, but the police turned up just in the nick of time! Now go take a shower." He hummed.

John blinked trying to wrap his brain around it then it suddenly came to a halt and his eyes widened. "Wait… You almost got raped.."

"Oh it wasn't a big deal really… I'm fine.. He wasn't very intimidating anyway! I didn't even have to beg because he didn't frighten me one bit!" Sherlock hummed and then swallowed. He didn't want John to know how he really felt… John was going through enough as it was.

John blinked. "No.. Sherlock.. Don't lie to me! Normally I might believe it, but don't sit and tell me that you almost got raped, but 'Oh! Don't worry John! Because everything is just peachy!'"

"John.. Please… just drop it.." He whispered.

"Drop it? DROP IT?! Sherlock another man almost stuck his cock up you forcibly! He probably got off on it just so he could watch you scream and beg for mercy and you're telling me that everything is okay? I don't buy it for a second! How far did he get?" John growled

"Wha…?" Sherlock blinked a little and stiffened.

"How. Far. Did. He. Get. Sherlock." John glared at Sherlock and punctuated each word.

"John really.. He didn't get that far… He started to undo my belt when they came…" He whispered. "He didn't even kiss me.. He just brushed his fingers all over me and—" Sherlock shivered and felt like he was going to throw up so he stopped talking.

John's face softened. "No, you aren't alright.. It's not about how far he got… It's about the fact that he touched you inappropriately without consent… I can't exactly move.. But I want you to come here.." He whispered softly.

Sherlock slowly walked over to where John was laying on the floor and dropped down. He held John close to him and breathed in his scent for a long moment. "Okay… Okay.. I'm okay now.. How are you?" He asked softly as he kissed the top of John's head.

John smiled a little. "I'm fine.. All he did was drug me.. I think.. I can't remember him doing anything bad besides drugging me." He said softly. "I'm going to go take a shower now.."

Sherlock nodded and got up from the floor and sat on the bed. "Need any help?"

"Nah, I'll just roll to the bathroom.. It's only ten feet away about." He smirked and then started rolling his body to the bathroom.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, but smiled softly as he watched John roll his body through the door and then shut it. He realised that even though they had a tough twenty four hours… everything was going to be okay.. For now at least.

~O~

A week later John was sitting at the rugby lunch table. Things had been pretty mellow ever since John had beaten up Sherlock. Sherlock would continue to sit at his tree and John would continue to sit with his team mates and that was that. Today was a bit different though.. Brian was being shifty and he kept glancing over at the tree. John would have said something, but he just wasn't ready to come out and if he backed Sherlock up that would raise suspicion. He sighed and picked at his salad.

"Look at him." Brian sneered. "Reading his book.. He thinks he's so safe because we haven't taught him one lesson since Johnny kicked his arse."

John sighed and looked up. "He doesn't need to be taught anything! And he hasn't even said anything to you.. Just leave him alone. He's being quiet…"

"Yeah! Exactly! He's planning something!" Brian growled and pushed his jell-o around.

John glared at him. "He's a genius! He doesn't need to plan! If he wanted something to happen it would have happened already! Just leave him alone!" He growled.

Brain glared right back at John. "I don't understand why you stick up for him!" Brian snapped. "He's weird!"

"He's different! And is that really so bad? If you think about it we are all different! It isn't a bad thing, Brian! It makes us unique!"

Brian growled and stood up. "No, he bugs me and I had a bad day! You can stay here, but I'm going to make him suffer!"

John swallowed hard and stayed where he was.. He knew that if he got up and tried to stop Brian it would cause suspicion.. He pushed his salad around some more and waited for Brian to return. However, before that happened someone was nudging at him and John looked up.

"John! Aren't you coming to watch? Everyone's going! Come on!" One of his friends smirked.

Ok… so apparently if he _didn't_ go it would cause suspicion… He took a shaky breath and stood up. He made his way over to the tree just as Brian ripped the book from Sherlock's hands.

"Really Brian? I thought we were over this phase of yours…" He sighed loudly.

"The phase of me beating you up?" He pursed his lips. "Mmmm, no… That's where you are wrong.. You piss me off and I genuinely like beating you up.. This isn't a phase.. Now stand up! I want a challenge, rainbow!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes and looked up at Brian. "Such a way with words…" He sighed. "But I really rather like it on the grass so I think I'll stay sitting, thank you."

"Get up!" Brian screamed and then pulled Sherlock up by his shirt and slammed him against the tree.

Sherlock groaned a bit, but then glared at Brian. "Really.. When are you going to realise that I'm never going to want you, Brian, and you need to accept that. I'm sorry you're in love with me, but you are _really_ not my type!" Sherlock drawled and looked over to find a very wide eyed John.

Brian was staring at Sherlock in complete shock before he finally snapped out of it and shoved Sherlock harder against the tree. "I am not a rainbow like you!"

Sherlock smirked. "Perhaps you are using the word 'rainbow' to describe me because you are in fact gay, you do in fact have a crush on me, and you just feel like 'rainbow' is the least offensive word.." He snickered and then before he knew it his face was being shoved into the grass and he was getting kicked in the side. Every kick felt completely painful, but John was watching so he would not scream.. Even though he was 79% sure he was failing.

John watched in horror as Brian kicked the shit out of Sherlock.. He could tell Sherlock was trying to be strong and not make any noise, but he was failing miserably. Suddenly, he realised that he didn't care anymore… He couldn't just stand back and watch Sherlock get kicked in. He screamed and then ran to Brian and shoved him to the ground. "STOP IT!" He yelled as he straddled Brian and started punching his face.

Sherlock blinked and watched from the grass. He was proud of John… His John. He smiled softly and tried to crawl towards John to help him, but just gave up.

John was screaming and hitting Brian and he was filled with so much anger! Could they not see how brilliant and beautiful Sherlock was?! He kept throwing punches until the next thing that he knew he was on the ground getting beaten by four other rugby players. He tried to fight back, but he was outnumbered. They grabbed his arm and pulled it back, twisting his wrist to the point where he was pretty sure they broke it and he screamed out in pain. They kept hitting and kicking and pulling at him until he heard someone yelling and suddenly everything just stopped. The yelling seemed so distant, but in reality it was probably really close to him and then suddenly everything went black.

~O~

John woke up to the smoothing hum of Sherlock's voice. He opened his eyes, but had to shut them again because the room was so bright.

"John.." Sherlock whispered. "Thank god you're okay…" He knew John would be okay.. He just didn't like a passed out John. It was very unsettling.

"Where am I..?" He whispered.

"Just in a hospital.. We had to make sure you weren't bleeding internally… you have a lot of bruises, but other than that your insides are okay… but you do have a broken wrist so you can't play rugby for a while…. I'm sorry…"

John shook his head. "No, it's ok… Really I'm fine… Suppose it will be good to stop hanging out with those pricks for a while.."

Sherlock swallowed and nodded. "I think they are sorry.. But only because the principle had to call an ambulance.." He shrugged a bit. "You didn't have to do that, John.." He reached out and gently grabbed John's, non broken, hand and swiped his thumb over John's thumb.

"I did Sherlock.. It was time.. Even if my body told me I wasn't… I should have done this a long time ago.. I just was caring about what people thought rather than what you thought and how you felt.. I'm sorry Sherlock.. I'll do better I promise.."

"John Hamish Watson.. You don't need to do any better than you already are doing.. You are the boy I love and I love you for who you already are… You don't need to do better.. Sure you probably could have told them earlier.. I _wanted _you to tell people earlier, but you weren't ready and I accepted that."

John smiled and squeezed his hand softly. "So they know, then…" He asked in a whisper.

Sherlock swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yeah.. They know.. And it didn't exactly help the situation when I threatened the principle…"

John blinked. "Sherlock! Why in the hell did you threaten the principle!"

Sherlock smirked. "They almost didn't let me ride in the ambulance with you… That was most certainly not acceptable."

John laughed, but then winced because it actually hurt a lot. "God, I love you."

Sherlock smirked. "I know." He hummed and kissed John softly.

~O~

A few days later John was lying in his own bed when he had the overwhelming urge to shower. "Darling." He said so sweetly.

Sherlock looked over at him and smiled a bit. "What do you want?" He asked softly.

"Will you cover my cast in plastic so I can shower?" He smiled sweetly again.

Sherlock laughed. "Of course I will. However, you aren't immobile.. You could do this yourself."

"I know. But I like it when you take care of me. It's sweet and shows your sensitive side." He smirked

"I do _not_ have a sensitive side!" He flailed a bit.

"Yes, you do." He smirked as he pulled off his own shirt and trousers so he was just in his pants. He watched as Sherlock covered his cast with plastic so tenderly. Soon it was covered and then the doorbell rang.

"I'll go get that." He kissed John's forehead and then left.

"John heaved himself up and walked to the bathroom where he took off his pants and turned on the water. He got in and smiled as the water washed over his bruised and aching body.

Sherlock answered the door and then glared at the person and tried to shut the door in their face.

"No! Please! Let me just talk.. That's all I want.. Is to talk.. You can kick me out later!" The person pleaded.

"You have absolutely nothing to say to me! Leave! John's in the shower and I want you gone by the time he comes out!"Sherlock growled and slammed the door in their face. He started walking back upstairs when he heard the person call out.

"No! Sherlock! Open the door! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I just want to tell you and John that! Please!"

Sherlock swallowed and walked back to the door. He opened it and let him in. "You have five minutes, Brian.. I'll go get John." He slowly walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Hey, love.. I need you to come downstairs for a second. It won't take long."

"Alright.." John called and then hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his hips and walked out.

"You're wet… and naked…"

John shrugged. "It's not like you haven't seen it before.. And I don't want to get redressed only to undress again."

Sherlock sighed, but nodded. "Alright.. Come on."

John followed Sherlock down the stairs and his jaw clenched when he saw Brian. "What the _hell_ is he doing here!" John growled.

"John please.. I want to apologise.. What I did was wrong.." He swallowed. "I came to ask for your forgiveness. I can't take back what I did… But I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and that it won't happen again.. To you.. Or Sherlock.." He whispered. "I just.. I was scared, John.."

John blinked. "Scared..? Of what…"

"My body is experiencing things and I'm confused.. I don't like it… and I took out my emotions on Sherlock.. And then I found out you two were.. A thing.. And I got angry with you because it really isn't fair.. What Sherlock said yesterday was true… But you two can be open about it while I have to keep it hidden.. I don't want anyone to know because it makes me feel abnormal and funny.." He whispered.

"Wait.. You're… you—" John stuttered, but Brian helped him through it.

"Like men.. Yes." He whispered. "But unlike you I don't think I'll ever be able to say that out loud again.. It stays between us.. I just took out my anger on you.. And I'm sorry… Am I forgiven?"

John swallowed and was quiet for a long time before he nodded. He knew what that was like. He was so angry when he first started having thoughts about men. "Yeah, we're cool.. I'm going to go finish my shower.." He walked back up the stairs.

Sherlock looked at brain for a long moment. "Ok.. You can go now…" He said awkwardly.

Brian shook his head. "I have something to say to just you.." He whispered. "I didn't just choose you because you were the freak of the school—"

"Charming words.." Sherlock rolled his eyes.

Brian ignored him and just kept going. "I chose you because I was angry with you.. Sherlock.. I'm pretty sure that I'm in love with you.. And I just needed to tell you.. I know you are with John and I'm not asking you to leave him to come to me… but I felt like you needed to know the reason behind everything.. And now that you know.. Please also know that I will be there for you always.. With whatever you need."

Sherlock smiled a little and was quiet for a minute. "Does this mean.. Does this mean we are friends?" He smiled more.

"Yeah, I think it does." Brian smirked.

Sherlock's heart warmed. He had never had a friend before. John didn't count in his brain because John was Sherlock's boyfriend.. Not actual friend.. This was different and he loved it. "Thank you.." he whispered. He watched as Brian nodded and then left the house. He would tell John that they were friends now, but maybe it would be a better idea if he were to keep out Brian's actual feelings towards him.


End file.
